Chapter 5 - The Midnight Breach
We didn't have until noon tomorrow.
Arthur had manipulated the media and the police to paint me as a deranged kidnapper.
If I stepped outside with the girls during the day, we would be surrounded by squad cars in minutes.
We had to wait for the cover of absolute darkness.
At two in the morning, I loaded the girls into the back of my neighbor’s old farm truck.
I had borrowed it without asking, leaving a note and a hundred-dollar bill on his kitchen counter.
I drove the dirt backroads, avoiding the main highways and street cameras.
Arthur’s neighborhood was a gated community of massive mansions and perfectly manicured lawns.
I parked the truck three streets over, hidden behind a row of tall cedar trees.
“Rachel, April, you stay locked in this truck, down on the floorboards,” I ordered softly.
“Lucy and I are going in through the back gate to get the envelope.”
Lucy gripped my hand tightly as we slipped through the shadows of the wealthy neighborhood.
The massive iron gate to Arthur's backyard was locked, but I knew the code Rose had set years ago.
The green light beeped quietly, and the gate clicked open.
The three-story house was completely dark, looking like a silent fortress.
We crept up to the kitchen window, where I used a pocket knife to pop the screen out of the frame.
I pushed the glass up as quietly as I could and helped Lucy climb inside.
I followed her over the sill, my old knees aching from the strain.
The house smelled like expensive cologne and Evelyn’s sickeningly sweet perfume.
“My room is on the second floor,” Lucy whispered, pointing toward the grand staircase.
We moved like ghosts, avoiding the creaky steps that Rose had complained about for years.
We reached Lucy’s pink and white bedroom and closed the door behind us.
Lucy dropped to her knees near her closet and pulled back the thick luxury carpet.
She wedged her small fingers into a gap between the hardwood planks and pulled one up.
From the dark space beneath the floor, she retrieved a small, sealed yellow envelope.
“I got it, Grandpa,” she whispered, her face lighting up with hope.
Suddenly, the heavy click of a door lock echoed from the hallway.
The lights in the master bedroom across the hall snapped on, casting a bright beam under Lucy's door.
Arthur wasn't asleep.
I heard the heavy thud of his footsteps walking directly toward Lucy's bedroom.
The doorknob began to turn slowly.
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“Well, well, well,” Arthur’s voice slithered through the wood.
“I knew the rats would come back for the cheese.”
