Chapter 15 - THE BREAK-IN
The apartment alarm went off at 9:42 p.m.
I was bathing Emma.
Denise shouted from the hallway.
"Rachel!"
The lights cut out.
My heart stopped.
I grabbed Emma, wrapped her in a towel, and locked us in the bathroom.
Someone moved downstairs.
Slowly.
No rush.
They knew the house.
I called 911.
Then Michael.
"Someone's here."
"I'm coming."
"No. Call police."
A shadow passed under the bathroom door.
I held Emma so tight she whimpered.
Then Margaret's voice came through the wood.
"Rachel."
I could barely breathe.
"Open the door."
"Go away."
"You've poisoned Michael against me."
"You hit my child."
"Vanessa did."
"You planned it."
Silence.
Then Margaret said, "Emma belongs with family."
I almost laughed from fear.
"I am her family."
"You married into it."
The handle turned.
Locked.
Margaret kicked the door.
Emma cried.
I backed toward the tub.
"Police are coming."
"They're too late."
Another kick.
The frame cracked.
Then a crash downstairs.
Male voices.
Margaret stopped.
Michael shouted, "Mom!"
Silence.
I heard running.
Margaret fled through the back hall.
Michael reached the bathroom.
"Rachel?"
I opened the door.
He saw Emma in my arms and almost fell apart.
Police chased Margaret through the yard but lost her beyond the hedge.
She had a car waiting.
Inside the kitchen, Brooks found something on the counter.
A syringe.
Filled.
The same kind of fast-acting sedative Dr. Keller had described from Richard's death.
Margaret had not come to talk.
She had come prepared.
Then the security camera caught the driver waiting outside.
Not Charles.
Not Stephen.
May you like
A woman.
Dr. Keller's wife, Joanne.
