Chapter 4 - PLEASE SAVE MY MOMOfficer Lucas Reed had served the Davidson County rural district for eleven years.
He had learned to distrust scenes that became too quiet when police arrived.
The Mitchell farmhouse was one of those scenes.
The abandoned emergency call had contained no words, only a child’s frightened breathing and a man shouting in the background.
When Lucas arrived, Robert explained that his daughter had accidentally dialed the number.
Then a little girl’s arm reached through the stable door.
Now Lucas stood ten feet from Robert, one hand near his holster and the other holding his flashlight.
“Move away from the building.”
Robert raised both hands.
“You’re misunderstanding this.”
“Then help me understand it from over there.”
Lucas pointed toward the fence.
Robert took one step sideways, but he did not leave the doorway.
“My wife is inside with our children.”
“Why?”
“She went out there after an argument.”
“Why is the exterior bolt lowered?”
Robert looked at the metal bar as though noticing it for the first time.
“It sticks. Maybe it fell.”
Lucas’s expression remained neutral.
“Step toward the fence.”
“This is private property.”
“And I am responding to an emergency call from a child.”
“My child.”
“That doesn’t make the call less important.”
Robert’s jaw tightened.
Inside the stable, Sarah held Emma against her chest.
The girl’s heart beat so hard that Sarah could feel it through the pink sweater.
“Is he going to help us?” Lily whispered.
“I think so.”
Outside, Lucas moved closer.
“Ma’am, can you hear me?”
Sarah hesitated.
Robert watched the door.
His stare carried a warning no one else could see.
Lucas repeated the question.
“Ma’am, are you free to leave that building?”
Sarah looked at her daughters.
For years, she had answered Robert’s questions with the words that caused the least damage.
I’m fine.
Nothing happened.
He didn’t mean it.
Tonight, Emma had already spoken the truth.
Sarah could not force her child to be braver than her mother.
“No,” she answered.
Robert closed his eyes briefly.
Lucas turned toward him.
“Sir, place both hands on the fence.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Do it now.”
Robert obeyed, but anger radiated from his rigid shoulders.
Lucas approached the stable.
He examined the exterior bolt and lifted it carefully.
The door still did not open because of Sarah’s interior hook.
“It’s me,” Lucas said. “You can release your latch.”
Sarah removed the hook.
The door opened several inches before catching on uneven ground.
Cold moonlight entered the stable.
Lucas pulled harder.
The opening widened.
His flashlight moved over the hay bales, the lantern and five frightened faces.
Ava was crying in Sarah’s arms.
Mia clung to one side of her sweater.
Lily held the other.
Emma stood in front of them as though her small body could protect all four.
Lucas lowered the flashlight so it would not blind them.
“My name is Officer Reed.”
Emma pointed toward Robert.
“He locked us in.”
Robert turned away from the fence.
“She’s confused.”
“Face forward,” Lucas ordered.
Sarah tried to stand.
Her legs failed beneath her.
Lucas caught her before she struck the floor.
As her sleeve moved, dark marks appeared around her wrist.
Lucas saw them.
So did Emma.
“You said he didn’t hurt you,” the girl whispered.
Sarah’s eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t want you to be more afraid.”
Robert spoke from the fence.
“She bruises easily.”
Lucas looked at the marks, then at the lowered exterior bolt.
“Dispatch, send another unit and medical assistance.”
Robert spun around.
“For what?”
Lucas stepped between him and the stable.
“For five people who need protection.”
“You can’t take my family.”
Sarah pulled the children close.
Her face was pale, but her voice was clear.
“They’re not going anywhere with you.”
Robert’s expression changed.
The anger disappeared.
In its place came a calm, almost gentle smile.
Lucas recognized it as more dangerous.
“Officer,” Robert said, “before you make a mistake, there is something you should know about my wife.”
Sarah froze.
May you like
Robert looked directly at her.
“She has been planning to disappear with my children.”
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