Chapter 6 - The Daughter In The Crosshairs
The next 48 hours were a blur. The police put out an all-points bulletin for Michael. They searched our house, his construction sites, every bar and motel within 50 miles. No sign of him. They found his truck abandoned at a rest stop off the interstate, 30 miles east of town, the keys still in the ignition, his wallet and phone on the seat. It was like he’d vanished into thin air.
Child Protective Services came to talk to me, to make sure Lily was safe. The police put a 24-hour protection detail on our house — two officers parked outside, day and night. But I didn’t feel safe. I didn’t feel safe anywhere. Every time a car drove down our street, every time the wind blew a branch against the window, I jumped. I kept Lily with me every second, even when she slept — I dragged her mattress into my room, slept with one hand on her arm, a baseball bat under my bed.
Lila stayed with us too. She said she wasn’t going anywhere until Michael and Jake were caught, that she owed it to me to make this right. We stayed up late every night, talking, crying, slowly piecing our friendship back together. She told me what had happened to her after she left town — she’d moved to Portland, worked in a coffee shop, gone to community college, gotten a degree in social work. She’d never married, never had kids. She’d thought about calling me a hundred times, she said, but she’d been too ashamed of how she’d left things.
“I was so stupid,” she said, drinking coffee at my kitchen table at 2 a.m. “I let a boy come between us. You were my sister. The only real family I ever had besides Jake. And I threw it all away because I was hurt and angry.”
“I was stupid too,” I said. “I should have chased after you. I should have called. I never should have kissed Michael. I knew how much you loved him.”
She waved it off. “He was never the right one for me anyway. I see that now. He was always selfish. Always looking out for number one. I just didn’t want to admit it.”
On the third day, the detective called. They’d found Jake. He’d been hiding out in the old abandoned school on the west side — the same place Michael said Lila was supposed to meet him. He’d put up a fight when the SWAT team went in, but they’d tased him and dragged him out. He was in custody, facing two counts of attempted murder, arson, and a dozen other charges.
But there was still no sign of Michael.
That night, Lily had a nightmare. She woke up screaming, crying that “Daddy was in the closet, trying to take her away.” I held her, rocking her back and forth, whispering that she was safe, that Daddy wasn’t there, that no one was going to hurt her. And when she finally fell back asleep, I walked into the hallway to get a glass of water.
The front door was open.
The two police officers who were supposed to be outside were lying on the porch, unconscious. A dark figure stood in the middle of the living room, backlit by the streetlight coming through the window.
“Hello, Emily,” Michael said.
I froze. He looked terrible — his clothes were dirty, his face was covered in stubble, his eyes were wild, bloodshot. He was holding a gun in his hand.
“Where is she, Em?” he said, stepping closer. “Where’s my daughter?”
“Get out,” I said, my voice shaking, backing away slowly. “The police are on their way. You’re not taking her anywhere.”
Michael laughed, a bitter, crazy sound. “No, they’re not. I disabled their radios. Tased them both before they even knew I was here. We have 10 minutes, maybe 15. Enough time to get what’s mine. Lily’s coming with me, Em. I’m not going to prison for the rest of my life. I’m taking her, and we’re going to Mexico. We’ll start over. Just the two of us.”
“You’re insane,” I said. “She’s 5 years old! She doesn’t want to go with you! She’s scared of you!”
“Don’t say that!” he yelled, pointing the gun at me. “She’s my daughter! She loves me! You’ve been poisoning her mind against me! Telling her lies! I did this for us, Em! For our family! My business was failing! We were going to lose the house! I did what I had to do to make sure we had a good life! Your parents would have given us the money if they’d cared! But they didn’t! They only cared about their stupid farm and their stupid lot and their perfect little lives! They deserved what they got!”
I heard a noise behind me. Lila was standing at the end of the hallway, holding the baseball bat from under my bed, her face pale but determined. She put a finger to her lips, telling me to keep him talking.
“Michael,” I said, holding my hands up, taking another step back. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Turn yourself in. Make a deal. Testify against Jake. The judge will go easy on you. You can see Lily when she’s older. She’ll understand. But if you take her now… she’ll never forgive you. She’ll hate you for the rest of her life.”
Michael hesitated. The gun wavered in his hand. For a second, I thought he was going to listen. Then his face hardened again.
“No,” he said. “It’s too late for that. I’m taking her. Now move. Or I swear to God, I’ll shoot you.”
He lunged forward. Lila ran at him, swinging the bat as hard as she could. It hit him square in the shoulder. He screamed, dropping the gun, and fell to his knees. I ran over and kicked the gun across the room, then jumped on top of him, punching him in the face as hard as I could, over and over, all the fear and anger and betrayal of the last few weeks pouring out of me.
Sirens blared in the distance. Red and blue lights flashed through the windows. Michael was still screaming, trying to throw me off, but Lila grabbed his arms and held him down, and I didn’t let go until the police ran into the house, tackled him, and cuffed him.
They dragged him out, yelling and screaming that he was innocent, that I’d set him up, that Lily was his. I stood there in the middle of the living room, shaking, covered in sweat and blood, and Lila pulled me into a hug.
“It’s over,” she said, rubbing my back. “He’s gone. It’s finally over.”
I looked up the stairs. Lily was standing at the top, her teddy bear in her hand, rubbing her eyes.
“Mommy?” she said, sleepy and confused. “What was all that noise? Where’s Daddy?”
May you like
I walked up the stairs, picked her up, and held her as tight as I could. “Daddy had to go away for a while, baby,” I said, kissing her forehead. “But everything’s okay now. We’re safe. I promise.”
And for the first time in weeks, I actually believed it.
