Chapter 5 - THE PAPER IN LILY’S COATA nurse found a folded piece of paper sewn into the inside of Lily’s coat pocket.
The coat was not on her when she reached me.
That confused everyone.
Then officers found it later along the route between Sarah’s house and mine.
Pink child’s winter coat snagged on barbed wire.
Lily had lost it climbing through a property boundary.
Inside was the paper.
Sarah’s handwriting.
My address.
A rough map.
Then:
NATHAN PIERCE.
GLASS HOUSE.
HE WILL HELP YOU.
Below it:
If I cannot come, take Owen and Ethan. Do not go to neighbors. Go to Nathan.
Why not neighbors?
That line bothered Detective Erin Cole, who took over the domestic-violence investigation.
“Was Marcus friendly with neighbors?”
“I don’t know.”
“You haven’t seen your sister in seven years?”
“No.”
She did not hide her reaction.
I deserved it.
Lily later explained.
“Daddy knows the people close.”
“What does that mean?”
“He tells them Mommy gets confused.”
There.
Marcus had prepared the environment.
If Sarah ran next door, he could frame her.
So she sent Lily farther.
May you like
To the estranged brother nobody in their local circle knew.
Me.
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