Chapter 3 - Lily Leaves a Message Behind
The next afternoon Daniel went to the park openly.
He stayed far enough away to give the children room, and Ethan knew he
was there.
Lily did not appear at their usual bench.
Ethan found a folded paper tucked beneath the loose slat.
DON’T COME TOMORROW. HE SAW YOUR DAD.
Below it was a drawing of a blue door and the number 14.
Ethan went pale.
“I told her you wouldn’t interfere.”
“I’m not angry with either of you,” Daniel said. “But this is bigger
than two kids sharing lunch.”
He called the local nonemergency line, explained what he had witnessed,
and asked how to report a possible child-safety concern. He also
photographed the note and preserved the original.
That night Ethan finally told him everything.
Lily had transferred to a nearby public school six weeks earlier. She
said her mother, Anna, worked nights at a residential care facility.
Then Anna stopped coming home.
A man named Mr. Voss told Lily her mother had gone away voluntarily.
Lily had been staying with a woman she called Aunt Marlene.
“She isn’t really her aunt,” Ethan whispered. “Lily says she keeps the
front door locked from the outside.”
Daniel looked at the drawing again.
A blue door.
Number 14.
May you like
And a child who had already learned to leave messages where adults would
not look.
