Chapter 4 - THE EMPTY CLASSROOMI don't remember driving to the preschool.
I remember red lights.
I remember horns.
I remember calling Emmett.
And I remember screaming Claire's name into the phone.
By the time I arrived, police cars were already outside.
The director met me at the entrance.
She was crying.
“She was listed as an emergency contact.”
“Not anymore!”
“We didn't receive any change.”
Emmett arrived seconds later.
He looked like a man about to tear the building apart with his hands.
“Where did she take her?”
“We don't know.”
Security footage showed Claire entering at 2:11.
Margot ran toward her.
That detail hurt most.
Because Margot trusted adults.
Claire knelt.
Spoke to her.
Took her hand.
And walked out.
No struggle.
No screaming.
Just a little girl believing a grown woman wouldn't hurt her.
Police issued an alert.
Emmett called Claire seventeen times.
No answer.
Then, at 3:06, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Claire.
“Walter.”
My body went rigid.
“Where is Margot?”
“She is safe.”
“Put her on.”
“I need you to listen.”
“Put my granddaughter on the phone.”
A pause.
Then Margot's voice.
“Grandpa?”
My knees nearly gave out.
“Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
Claire took the phone back.
“She doesn't know.”
I lowered my voice.
“If you hurt her—”
“I would never hurt her.”
“You already did.”
Silence.
Then Claire began crying.
“I made mistakes.”
“Bring her back.”
“I need Emmett to listen to me.”
“This isn't how you make someone listen.”
“He won't answer.”
“He filed for an annulment because you tried to send his daughter away.”
“I wasn't going to send her away.”
“The emails say otherwise.”
“I was scared!”
“So you kidnapped a child?”
“She is my stepdaughter.”
“Not for long.”
Claire inhaled sharply.
That had landed.
I immediately regretted provoking her.
I changed my tone.
“Claire.”
Silence.
“Margot needs her father.”
“So did I.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“My father left when I was six.”
The words came out small.
Suddenly, for the first time, I saw the shape of Claire's wound.
Not an excuse.
A wound.
“My mother remarried. They had two children. I became the extra one.”
“Then you should understand Margot better than anyone.”
Claire began sobbing.
“I thought if Emmett chose me first, it would prove I wasn't second anymore.”
My eyes closed.
There it was.
A grown woman forcing a five-year-old child to fight a battle that had begun thirty years before Margot was born.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“You became the adult who hurt you.”
She stopped crying.
Silence.
Long.
Painful.
Then I heard Margot in the background.
“Claire?”
“What?”
“Grandpa says hearts aren't pies.”
I covered my mouth.
Margot continued.
“Daddy can love you and me.”
Claire made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
Then the line went dead.
Police traced the call.
A motel outside Milwaukee.
Officers arrived thirty-seven minutes later.
Margot was unharmed.
Claire surrendered immediately.
When Emmett reached her, Margot ran into his arms.
He dropped to his knees in the parking lot and held her so tightly I thought neither would ever let go.
Claire stood beside a police cruiser in handcuffs.
As officers prepared to take her away, she looked at Margot.
“I'm sorry.”
Margot buried her face against her father.
Claire lowered her head.
Then an officer opened the cruiser door.
Before getting inside, Claire looked at Emmett.
“There is something else you need to know.”
Emmett stared at her.
“What?”
May you like
Claire's face turned pale.
“Phoebe knew about me.”
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