Chapter 3
Valerie recovered faster than I expected.
She always did.
Her fear disappeared beneath a perfect smile.
“I don’t know who that is.”
Claire laughed bitterly through my phone.
“Yes, you do.”
Valerie looked at Deputy Morales.
“My stepdaughter is exhausted. She’s been through severe grief since her father died.”
I hated how normal she sounded.
How reasonable.
If I had not been standing there in wet clothes, I might have believed her too.
“She needs to come home.”
I stepped farther behind Hank.
“No.”
Valerie stared at me.
It was only one word.
But I had never said it to her like that.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Emery.”
“No.”
Hank turned slightly.
Not threatening.
Just present.
Valerie noticed.
“So these strangers are controlling you now?”
“They stopped.”
My voice cracked.
“You didn’t.”
That silenced her.
Deputy Morales asked Valerie for identification.
Valerie handed it over.
“Of course.”
Then she looked at me.
“I was coming back.”
“You texted me to say I ran away.”
Her mouth tightened.
“That was because I panicked.”
“You told me not to talk to anyone.”
“I was afraid strangers would manipulate you.”
Claire spoke through the phone.
“Like you did?”
Valerie snapped.
“Stay out of this.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake.
She had just claimed she didn’t know who Claire was.
Deputy Morales noticed.
“So you do know the caller?”
Valerie sighed.
“She’s unstable.”
Claire inhaled sharply.
Valerie continued.
“She abandoned Emery years ago and has spent the last several months harassing us.”
“That is a lie!”
Claire shouted.
Deputy Morales remained calm.
“Ms. Quinn, please let me handle this.”
Another patrol car arrived.
Then an ambulance.
Paramedics checked me inside the warm vehicle.
My temperature was low but not dangerous.
One wrapped me in heated blankets.
Hank waited outside.
He refused to leave.
So did Rosa.
Actually, almost none of the riders left.
They moved their motorcycles farther from traffic and waited beneath the rain.
I didn’t understand why.
When I asked Hank later, he shrugged.
“Because kids shouldn’t have to look up and wonder if everyone left.”
Inside the ambulance, Deputy Morales sat across from me.
“Emery, I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”
I did.
Every word.
Valerie ordering me out.
The car leaving.
The texts.
Morales photographed my phone.
Then she asked questions about home.
“Does Valerie punish you often?”
I looked down.
“What counts as punishment?”
Her face changed.
“Tell me what happens when you get in trouble.”
“Sometimes she takes dinner away.”
The paramedic stopped moving for a second.
“Sometimes she locks my bedroom door from the outside.”
Morales’s pen paused.
“For how long?”
“Until morning.”
“Does she ever hit you?”
I shook my head.
That was true.
Valerie was careful.
“She doesn’t hit.”
“What does she do?”
I thought.
“She tells me things.”
“What things?”
“That Dad would still be alive if I hadn’t stressed him.”
Morales looked up sharply.
“She said that?”
I nodded.
“She says I make people sick.”
The paramedic beside me looked angry.
Morales softened her voice.
“Emery, none of that is your fault.”
I didn’t answer.
Adults said things like that when they wanted children to stop crying.
I had heard it before.
Then she asked about Dad’s death.
I told her what I knew.
He had been working late in his study.
Valerie found him on the floor.
Ambulance.
Hospital.
Gone.
I never saw him before the funeral.
“What did Valerie say happened?”
“Heart attack.”
“Did your father have heart problems?”
“No.”
At least I didn’t think so.
Dad ran every morning.
He ate boring oatmeal.
He made me drink water when I wanted soda.
Morales exchanged a glance with another officer.
My stomach tightened.
“Why are you asking?”
“Because we’re trying to understand everything.”
I hated that answer.
It meant adults knew something terrible but weren’t ready to say it.
Outside, Valerie was talking loudly.
“I have legal custody!”
Morales stood.
“I’ll be right back.”
“No!”
The word jumped out of me.
She stopped.
“Please don’t make me go with her.”
My voice broke.
“I won’t.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
That was the first adult promise that night I believed.
Child protective services arrived nearly an hour later.
So did a woman from the sheriff’s office.
And then Claire.
I knew her before she said my name.
She stepped out of an old blue car and stood completely still.
The photograph on my phone was nine years old.
But it was her.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
She saw me through the ambulance doors.
Her hands covered her face.
I didn’t run to her.
I couldn’t.
She approached slowly.
“Hi, Birdie.”
I started crying.
Nobody had called me that since Dad died.
Claire stopped several feet away.
“I won’t touch you unless you want me to.”
I stared.
“You’re really her?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come sooner?”
Pain crossed her face.
“I tried.”
“That’s not the same.”
“I know.”
I hated her for saying that because it sounded honest.
Valerie suddenly shouted.
“She has no custody rights!”
Claire turned.
For the first time, I saw something fierce in her.
“You made sure of that.”
Valerie laughed.
“You lost custody because you were unstable.”
Claire stepped toward her.
Hank quietly moved between them.
Not because Claire seemed dangerous.
Because the whole scene was exploding.
Deputy Morales raised her voice.
“That’s enough.”
Valerie pointed at Claire.
“That woman is not taking Emery.”
“No one is making that decision tonight,” Morales said.
Valerie looked at me.
“Come home.”
I shook my head.
Her expression hardened.
Then she said something strange.
“You don’t understand what your father did.”
Claire froze.
“What does that mean?”
Valerie smiled.
“Ask her.”
She pointed at Claire.
“Ask your precious mother why Thomas was terrified of her before he died.”
My heart dropped.
Claire went pale.
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?”
Valerie’s smile grew.
“He found out what really happened nine years ago.”
Claire whispered, “You’re lying.”
Valerie leaned closer.
“He knew why that car hit you.”
Everything stopped.
Claire stared at her.
“So do you.”
Deputy Morales stepped between them.
“What are you talking about?”
Valerie realized she had said too much.
She turned toward her SUV.
“I’m done here.”
An officer blocked her.
“You’re not free to leave.”
Her face changed.
“On what grounds?”
Morales held up my phone.
“Child abandonment is a good place to start.”
Valerie looked at me.
The coldness in her eyes returned.
For the first time, I saw clearly that she wasn’t angry because I had disobeyed.
She was afraid of what I might learn.
Then an officer searched her SUV.
He called Deputy Morales over.
She looked inside.
Her expression changed immediately.
“What?” Claire asked.
Morales didn’t answer.
She pulled out a black folder.
My name was written across the front.
EMERY QUINN TRUST.
Inside were bank statements.
Some had numbers circled in red.
Others had Valerie’s signature.
Then Morales found something underneath them.
A bottle of Dad’s prescription medication.
Claire stopped breathing.
I stared at it.
“Why is that in her car?”
Nobody answered.
Valerie did.
“It was Thomas’s.”
I looked at her.
“Dad died eight months ago.”
Valerie said nothing.
May you like
And suddenly the cold rain outside didn’t scare me anymore.
The woman standing ten feet away did.
