Chapter 3 - LIGHTS THROUGH THE CRACKSEmma held her breath.
The siren grew louder for several seconds.
Then it stopped.
Not faded.
Stopped.
Close by.
She moved to the narrow gap in the stable door and looked outside.
At first, she saw only the dark yard.
Then blue light swept across the wooden fence.
Red followed.
The colors flashed over the grass, disappeared, and returned.
A police cruiser had stopped near the farmhouse.
“Mom,” Emma whispered urgently.
Sarah was warming Ava’s tiny hands between her own.
“What is it?”
“There’s a police car.”
Sarah lifted her head.
For an instant, hope broke through her exhaustion.
Then fear replaced it.
She placed Ava carefully into Lily’s arms and moved toward the door.
Through the opening, Sarah saw a uniformed officer standing beside the cruiser.
He shone a flashlight toward the farmhouse.
Robert emerged from the back entrance.
He no longer carried the bottle.
He had zipped his dark jacket and pushed his hair back with wet hands.
From a distance, he almost looked like the man Sarah had married.
The officer spoke to him.
The words were too faint to understand.
Robert gestured toward the road, then toward the farmhouse.
He appeared relaxed.
Helpful.
Sarah knew that performance.
Robert used it at banks, school meetings and church gatherings. He could turn calmness on like a light.
“He’ll send the officer away,” Sarah whispered.
“Why is the officer here?” Emma asked.
Sarah thought about the kitchen.
Before Robert pulled the telephone cord from the wall, Emma had grabbed the receiver.
Sarah remembered hearing one electronic tone.
“Did you call someone?”
Emma looked down.
“I pressed nine-one-one.”
Sarah stared at her.
“Did you speak?”
“No. Daddy took the phone.”
That was enough.
An abandoned emergency call from a rural farmhouse would require a welfare check.
The officer had come because of Emma.
Sarah looked outside again.
Robert was walking the officer toward the cruiser.
He was sending him away.
“Mom, we have to call him.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Emma turned.
“He can help us.”
“If your father hears you—”
“He’s already keeping us in here.”
“Emma, stay away from the door.”
The girl did not move.
Sarah lowered herself until they were eye to eye.
“I need you to listen to me. The officer doesn’t know what’s happening. Your father may convince him that everything is fine. If you shout and the officer leaves anyway, your father will come back here angrier.”
Emma’s lips trembled.
“What if he doesn’t leave?”
Sarah had no answer.
Outside, the officer opened his cruiser door.
Robert stood several feet away, waiting.
The flashing lights painted half his face blue and the other half red.
Emma looked at her sisters.
Lily was trying to hold Ava the way Sarah did.
Mia had both hands pressed over her ears.
They were waiting for the oldest child to look unafraid.
Emma crawled toward the door.
Sarah caught her sweater.
“Emma.”
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
The child slipped free.
She pushed her face toward the small opening.
The police officer was beginning to sit inside the cruiser.
“Officer!”
Her first cry was swallowed by the distance.
Robert’s head turned sharply toward the stable.
Emma saw his expression change.
“Get away from that door,” he shouted.
The officer paused.
Emma gathered every bit of air in her lungs.
“OFFICER!”
This time, the officer heard her.
He stood upright.
Emma thrust one arm through the opening and pointed toward Sarah and the girls behind her.
“Please save my mom and my sisters!”
The officer’s hand moved instinctively toward his belt.
Robert hurried toward the stable.
“It’s my daughter,” he called. “She’s having a tantrum.”
The officer shut the cruiser door.
“Sir, stop where you are.”
Robert ignored him.
His eyes remained fixed on Emma.
“I told you to stay quiet.”
Sarah pulled Emma away just as Robert reached the door.
He grabbed the outside handle.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
A beam of white light struck his chest.
The officer was approaching.
“Step away from the door,” he ordered.
Robert slowly turned.
May you like
His confusion lasted less than a second.
Then his face filled with rage.
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