Chapter 6
Six months later.
Maine was cold in November.
The kind of cold that seeped into your bones and stayed there.
But Emma loved it.
She’d never seen snow before.
Every morning, she’d run to the window and press her face against the glass, hoping for flakes.
I was making hot chocolate in the kitchen when my phone rang.
An unknown number.
I hesitated.
Ever since the trial, I’d gotten a lot of those.
Reporters.
Crazy people.
Supporters of Daniel and Linda.
I almost didn’t answer.
But something made me.
“Hello?”
“Sarah? It’s Detective Miller. From Nashville.”
I froze.
Detective Miller.
I hadn’t spoken to him since the sentencing.
“Detective. Is everything okay?”
“Is Emma there? Is she safe?”
His voice was tight.
Alarmed.
I walked to the window.
Emma was in the living room, watching cartoons.
Safe.
Inside.
Locked doors.
Alarm system on.
“She’s right here,” I said. “Why? What’s wrong?”
There was a pause.
“Daniel escaped,” he said.
The words hit me like a punch.
“What?”
“Last night. From the penitentiary outside Memphis. Two other men with him. They killed a guard. Took his uniform. Walked right out the front gate. They’ve been on the run for twelve hours now.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Sarah? You still there?”
“He’s coming here, isn’t he?” I whispered.
“We don’t know that,” Miller said. “But we can’t rule it out. He has nothing to lose now. Life plus twenty for the escape and the guard. If he’s going down, he’s going to want to take you and Emma with him. I’ve already called the state police up there. They’re sending units to your house. In the meantime—lock everything. Stay inside. Don’t open the door for anyone. Not even the police unless they can give you the password we agreed on. Remember?”
“Sunflower,” I said.
“Right. Sunflower. Anyone who doesn’t know that word? Don’t open. Not for anything. Sarah… I’m getting on a plane right now. I’ll be there in four hours. Just hold on until then.”
He hung up.
I stood there.
The phone still in my hand.
Daniel was free.
He’d killed a man to get out.
And he was coming for us.
I knew it.
With every fiber of my being.
He’d spent six months in prison thinking about me.
About how I’d ruined his perfect life.
About how I’d taken everything from him.
He’d had nothing but time to plan his revenge.
“Mommy?” Emma said from the living room. “Who was that?”
I walked into the room.
My face must have been white.
Emma sat up.
Scared.
“Mommy? What’s wrong?”
I forced a smile.
The same kind of smile Daniel used to wear.
“Nothing, baby. That was just… the police. They’re doing a training exercise nearby. They just wanted to make sure all our doors are locked. Come on. Help Mommy check, okay?”
We went through the whole house.
Locked every door.
Every window.
Set the alarm.
I pulled the heavy oak chest in front of the front door.
Then I took Emma into the master bedroom.
I locked that door too.
I pushed the dresser in front of it.
“Mommy,” Emma said. She was crying now. “You’re scaring me. What’s happening? Is it Daddy? Did he get out?”
I stopped.
I looked at her.
My brave seven-year-old.
She was smarter than anyone gave her credit for.
I knelt down in front of her.
I took her hands.
“Yes, baby,” I said softly. “Daddy got out. And the police think he might come here. But you don’t have to be scared. Because Mommy is here. And the police are coming. And nothing—nothing—is going to hurt you. I promise you that. With everything I am.”
Emma threw her arms around my neck.
“I’m scared,” she sobbed.
“I know, baby. I know. But we’re going to be brave together, okay? Just like we were at the hospital. Remember how brave you were then?”
She nodded into my shoulder.
“Good. Now I need you to do something very important for me. I need you to climb into the closet. And I need you to be very, very quiet. No matter what you hear. No matter what happens. You stay in there. And you don’t come out until Mommy comes and gets you. Or until a police officer says the word sunflower. Do you understand?”
Emma pulled back.
Her eyes were wet.
But determined.
“I understand,” she whispered.
I helped her into the walk-in closet.
I piled blankets and pillows in the back corner.
I gave her my old phone.
Fully charged.
“Call 911 if anything happens,” I said. “Even if you just think something is wrong. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I kissed her forehead.
“I love you more than anything in the whole world,” I said.
“I love you too, Mommy.”
I closed the closet door.
I turned the lock on the outside.
Then I turned around.
And I thought.
What would Daniel do?
He knew the house.
I’d sent him pictures when we’d moved in.
Stupid.
So stupid.
He knew the layout.
He knew there was a back deck.
A sliding glass door.
A basement window that didn’t lock quite right.
He knew everything.
I went to the safe in the closet.
The one Melissa had insisted we buy.
I opened it.
Inside was Robert’s gun.
The one he’d given me that night in the hospital.
I’d never fired it.
I’d never even held it except that one night.
But I’d taken lessons.
Every week for the last four months.
I knew how to load it.
I knew how to aim it.
I knew how to fire it.
And I knew I would.
If Daniel came through that door.
I would kill him before he touched my daughter.
I loaded the gun.
I checked the chamber.
I put extra bullets in my pocket.
Then I waited.
The police should have been there by now.
It had been twenty minutes since Detective Miller called.
Where were they?
I checked my phone.
No signal.
None.
Daniel had cut the lines.
Of course he had.
He was smarter than I gave him credit for.
He’d been planning this.
Watching.
Waiting.
He’d probably been in town for days.
Learning our routine.
Waiting for the right moment.
I heard it then.
A soft sound.
From the back of the house.
The sliding glass door.
Opening.
Slowly.
Quietly.
My heart stopped.
He was inside.
I stood with my back against the bedroom door.
The gun raised.
Both hands.
Just like the instructor had taught me.
I listened.
Footsteps.
Soft.
Careful.
Coming down the hall.
Toward the bedroom.
“Sarah?”
His voice.
Quiet.
Smooth.
Like he was just coming home from work.
“I know you’re in there. And I know Emma is with you. We don’t have to do this the hard way. Just open the door. We can talk. I just want to explain. You never let me explain.”
I didn’t answer.
“Sarah?” His voice changed.
Harder.
Angrier.
“Open the GODDAMN DOOR!”
He kicked it.
Once.
Twice.
The dresser in front of it shook.
But it held.
“Fine,” he said. He was breathing hard now. “I’ll just go get the axe from the garage. Your nice new axe. I saw it when I was here last week. This won’t take long.”
He walked away.
I thought fast.
He was going to the garage.
That gave me maybe two minutes.
I looked around the room.
The window.
Second floor.
Big oak tree right outside.
I’d climbed it a hundred times as a kid.
Emma was small.
She could do it.
I unlocked the closet door.
“Emma! Come on! We have to go! NOW!”
She ran out.
“Climb out the window,” I said. “Get on that branch. Climb down as fast as you can. Run to the road. Flag down the first car you see. Tell them Daniel Carter is here. Tell them to call the police. GO!”
Emma didn’t hesitate.
She climbed onto the windowsill.
She reached for the branch.
She grabbed it.
She swung her legs over.
And she started climbing down.
Fast.
Brave.
I watched until her feet hit the ground.
She ran.
Fast as her little legs could carry her.
Into the dark.
Then I turned back to the door.
Daniel was coming back.
I could hear his footsteps.
He was singing now.
That stupid lullaby he used to sing to Emma when she was a baby.
*You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…*
He reached the door.
I heard the axe hit wood.
THUD.
*You make me happy when skies are gray…*
THUD.
*You’ll never know dear, how much I love you…*
THUD.
The door was splitting.
I raised the gun.
I aimed at the center of the door.
Where his heart would be.
*Please don’t take my sunshine away.*
The last THUD was huge.
The door burst open.
The dresser fell.
Daniel stood there.
Axe in his hand.
Prison uniform.
Hair longer.
Beard wild.
Eyes crazy.
He saw the gun.
He smiled.
“You won’t do it,” he said. He stepped into the room. “You’re too soft, Sarah. Always have been. You couldn’t even kill a spider when we were first married. You think you can kill me? The father of your child?”
He took another step.
“Where is she, Sarah? Where’s Emma? Did you send her out the window? Cute. But there are two of us, remember? My friend is outside. He’s got her by now. She’s probably already in the van. Screaming for her mommy.”
My finger tightened on the trigger.
“You’re lying,” I said.
“Am I?” He smiled again. That terrible smile. “Why do you think the police haven’t shown up yet? My other friend took care of them. Roadblock. Car crash. Very convincing. It’ll be hours before anyone finds them. By then… we’ll be long gone. And Emma? Well… let’s just say the insurance company still hasn’t paid out. But they will. Once there’s a body.”
He took another step.
He was ten feet away now.
“Put the gun down, Sarah,” he said softly. “We can still fix this. You and me. We can be a family again. Like we used to be. Before all this happened. I know you still love me. I can see it in your eyes.”
He was five feet away now.
The axe was raised.
I looked into his eyes.
And I saw nothing.
No love.
No hate.
Just emptiness.
A void.
He was already dead.
He just didn’t know it yet.
“I did love you once,” I said. My voice was steady. “A long time ago. But that man is gone. You killed him the day you decided to kill my daughter.”
I fired.
The gun kicked.
Loud.
Deafening.
Daniel looked down.
A red spot was spreading across his chest.
Right over his heart.
He looked back up at me.
Surprised.
“Bitch,” he whispered.
The axe fell from his hand.
He fell to his knees.
Then face-first onto the floor.
He didn’t move.
I stood there.
Gun still raised.
Smoke curling from the barrel.
I couldn’t breathe.
I’d just shot a man.
The father of my child.
The man I’d slept next to for nine years.
And I felt…
Nothing.
No sadness.
No guilt.
Just relief.
Because he couldn’t hurt us anymore.
Ever.
Then I heard sirens.
Lots of them.
Coming closer.
I dropped the gun.
I ran to the window.
I looked out.
Red and blue lights were flashing at the end of the driveway.
Police cars.
Lots of them.
And there was Emma.
Running toward them.
Screaming.
A state trooper jumped out of his car.
He picked her up.
He held her tight.
I collapsed against the windowsill.
And I cried.
For everything we’d been through.
For everything we’d lost.
For the little girl who would never have a father.
For the woman I used to be.
The one who believed in love and happy endings and white picket fences.
She was gone too.
But in her place was someone stronger.
Someone who would burn the whole world down before she let anyone hurt her child.
Detective Miller found me sitting on the floor beside Daniel’s body.
Emma was asleep in the next room.
A paramedic had given her something to calm down.
Miller sat down beside me.
He didn’t say anything for a long time.
“Was it him?” he asked finally.
I nodded.
“He had an axe,” I said. “He was going to kill me. Then he was going to go after Emma. I didn’t have a choice.”
Miller looked at the body.
At the axe on the floor.
At the bullet hole dead-center in Daniel’s chest.
“Good shot,” he said quietly.
I looked at him.
“Self-defense,” he said. “Clear as day. No grand jury in the world would indict you. You did what you had to do, Sarah. To protect your daughter. Any mother would have done the same.”
He put his hand on my shoulder.
“It’s over now,” he said. “Really over. No more Daniel. No more Linda. No more looking over your shoulder. You and Emma can finally live.”
I looked at Emma through the open door.
She was sleeping peacefully.
Her favorite bear tucked under her arm.
May you like
For the first time since I’d found her beside those trash cans, I believed him.
It really was over.
