Chapter 1 - THE EMPTY DUMPSTER
Rachel heard Maisie before she saw anyone.
“Mommy!”
The scream came from behind the house.
Two years old.
Pink pajamas.
Bare feet.
Rachel had been carrying a birthday cake through the dining room when she heard it.
By the time she reached the back hallway, the cry was gone.
The Carter house was full of people.
Balloons.
Paper plates.
Family friends.
Aunts.
Cousins.
Children running between rooms.
Maisie’s second birthday gathering had turned chaotic an hour earlier.
Rachel assumed someone had picked her up.
Then she entered the nursery.
Empty crib.
Empty rocking chair.
No Maisie.
She ripped open the closet.
Nothing.
Checked under the bed.
Nothing.
“MAISIE?!”
Lucas appeared in the hallway.
Thirty-two.
Her husband.
Dark shirt.
Too calm.
“Calm down.”
Rachel shoved past him.
Elaine, Lucas’s mother, stepped in front of her.
“She’s fine.”
Rachel stared.
“WHERE IS SHE?!”
Then she saw Tessa.
Lucas’s younger sister.
Twenty-five.
Standing beside the kitchen entrance.
Backing away.
Terrified.
Rachel moved.
Fast.
She grabbed Tessa’s arm.
“TELL ME!”
Tessa shook her head.
Rachel slapped her.
Tessa broke instantly.
“The dumpster!”
Rachel released her.
Ran.
Back door.
Patio.
Side gate.
The green commercial dumpster sat behind the garage because the family had rented it while renovating the basement.
Rachel ripped the lid open.
Cardboard.
Gift wrap.
Plastic bags.
“MAISIE?!”
She threw boxes aside.
Nothing.
“No… NO!”
Empty.
She turned.
Lucas had followed.
Rachel charged him.
Slapped him across the face.
Grabbed his shirt.
“WHERE’S MY BABY?!”
Lucas opened his mouth.
Then looked into the dumpster.
His face changed.
Not guilt.
Terror.
Rachel saw it.
May you like
And for the first time understood something worse than betrayal.
Lucas did not know where Maisie was either.
