Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Disappeared
Linda became a fugitive by dinner.
Every television station made her look glamorous.
Former socialite sought for questioning.
Wealthy widow disappears after infant incident.
Not one headline captured the sound of Lily screaming behind that door.
Ryan moved into Natalie’s guest room because I refused to take Lily home.
He didn’t argue.
For the first time since this began, he stopped trying to manage my fear and started sharing it.
At 11:30 that night, he said, “I found something.”
He opened his laptop.
A month before Lily was born, Linda had emailed him a list of postpartum treatment centers.
SUBJECT: JUST IN CASE EMMA NEEDS SUPPORT.
Ryan had replied with one line.
She’s fine, Linda. Please stop.
“I forgot about this,” he said.
“I didn’t.”
I remembered Linda placing brochures on my kitchen island while I was eight months pregnant.
“You can never be too prepared,” she had said.
I thought she was insulting me.
Now I understood she had been laying track.
Detective Harper called just after midnight.
Linda’s credit card had been used at a gas station eighty miles north.
“Is she running?” I asked.
“Maybe.”
“What else would she be doing?”
Harper hesitated.
“The purchase included infant formula.”
I looked down at Lily sleeping in a bassinet three feet away.
“What kind?”
Harper named the exact brand we used.
Ryan stood up.
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
Then Natalie walked into the room holding Lily’s diaper bag.
“Emma,” she said slowly, “where’s the spare bottle you packed?”
“In the side pocket.”
“No, it isn’t.”
We searched the bag.
The bottle was gone.
So was the small hospital receiving blanket Lily had worn home.
Ryan and I looked at each other.
Linda hadn’t taken random baby supplies.
May you like
She had taken Lily’s things.
Then someone knocked three times on Natalie’s front door.
