Chapter 2 - Our Son Was Alive—and Ready to Be Taken Somewhere
The first thing I saw was the portable crib.
Our baby was inside it.
Alive.
Awake.
Safe.
For one second, nothing else mattered.
I crossed the cellar so quickly Officer Davis had to tell me not to disturb anything around the room.
Our son looked up when he heard my voice and immediately reached for me.
I picked him up.
He was warm.
Breathing normally.
No visible injury.
There was a bottle beside the crib and a battery-powered monitor attached to the side.
The climate-controlled front section of the cellar was cool but not dangerously cold.
Claire had not placed him there to physically harm him.
That did not make the situation normal.
Because beside the crib were three packed bags.
One for Claire.
One for the baby.
And one with Lily’s name embroidered across the side.
I stared at it.
The zipper was open.
Empty.
On a nearby wine crate were two passports.
Claire’s.
The baby’s.
Lily’s passport sleeve sat beside them—
without Lily’s passport inside.
There was also a prepaid phone.
Several thousand dollars in cash.
A folder.
And a printed reservation for a furnished rental house nearly nine hundred miles away.
Check-in:
That night.
Officer Davis looked at me.
Then toward Claire standing outside the door.
“Mrs. Mercer,” he said, “were you planning to leave?”
Claire didn’t answer.
Lily did.
“She was taking us away.”
I looked down at my daughter.
“How do you know?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because I heard them.”
She pointed at Julian.
“Him too.”
Claire closed her eyes.
And that was the moment I realized something even more disturbing.
The empty bag with Lily’s name meant the original plan included both children.
So why had the baby been locked inside—
May you like
while Lily was left outside desperately trying to find me?
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