Chapter 8 - The Interrogation Room
The trapdoor opened into an old storm cellar built into the stone foundation beneath the cabin.
The air that rushed up from the dark hole was freezing, smelling of wet earth, iron, and dry rot.
Brody didn't wait for the tactical team. He drew his sidearm, held his flashlight high, and descended the narrow wooden steps into the darkness, with three officers right behind him.
"Daniel Whitaker!" Brody’s voice boomed from below, echoing off the stone walls. "Police! Drop your weapon and put your hands on your head!"
A high-pitched, hysterical scream echoed up from the dark basement—not from Daniel, but from Lily.
"MOMMY!" she shrieked. "MOMMY!"
I couldn't stop myself. I scrambled down the narrow wooden stairs, slipping on the damp steps, landing on my knees on the cold dirt floor below.
The light from six tactical flashlights converged in the far corner of the subterranean cellar.
Daniel was standing against the damp fieldstone wall. He was wearing a mud-stained black jacket, his hair plastered to his forehead, his face twisted into a mask of wild, cornered fury. He was holding a heavy steel tire iron in his right hand.
In his left arm, he held Lily pinned against his chest, her small legs dangling, her face red and swollen from crying.
"STAY BACK!" Daniel screamed, his voice cracking with unhinged desperation. "STAY BACK OR I'LL SWING IT! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL SWING IT!"
"Daniel!" I cried out, stepping into the center of the flashlights, reaching my hands out. "Daniel, look at me!"
His bloodshot eyes snapped to mine. For a second, the cold, arrogant executive was gone—replaced by a desperate, pathetic coward who knew his entire world had collapsed around his ears.
"Clara..." he rasped, his breath coming in hot white plumes in the freezing air. "You ruined everything. We were going to be a family. I gave you a home! I gave you a daughter!"
"You didn't give me anything, Daniel!" I said, taking one slow, smooth step forward, keeping my voice steady, hypnotic, and completely calm. "You brought a terrified child into my life. But I love her, Daniel. I love her more than you could ever comprehend."
"She's mine!" Daniel roared, tightening his grip on Lily’s arm. Lily gasped, crying out in pain. "She belongs to me! Her mother tried to take her, and look what happened to her!"
"Your mother didn't leave you because you were greedy, Lily!" I shouted over his voice, looking directly into Lily’s terrified blue eyes. "Your mother loved you! She tried to save you! And I am here to finish what she started!"
Lily looked at me through her tears. The words seemed to hit her like a beam of pure light cutting through three years of darkness.
"Mom..." Lily whimpered.
"Now, Lily!" I screamed. "BITES!"
Three days ago, while playing in the living room, I had taught Lily a game called "Gator Snap"—a silly game where she would bite down on my shoulder when I tickled her.
In that split second, the five-year-old child didn't hesitate.
She leaned her head down and bit Daniel’s wrist with every single ounce of strength left in her tiny body.
"ARRRGH!" Daniel screamed in pain, instinctively dropping his arm.
Lily fell to the dirt floor, scrambled onto her hands and knees, and crawled toward me like a lightning bolt.
"GOT HER!" Brody roared.
Before Daniel could swing the heavy tire iron, three tactical officers tackled him like a freight train, slamming his massive frame against the damp stone floor.
BOOM!
The tire iron clattered harmlessly against the dirt.
"GET OFF ME!" Daniel shrieked, his face shoved deep into the mud as steel handcuffs snapped brutally around his wrists. "GET OFF ME! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!"
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I dropped to my knees, wrapping my arms around Lily, pulling her tiny, wet, shaking body tightly against my chest. She buried her face in the crook of my neck, her small arms wrapping around my throat with a grip so fierce it took my breath away.
"I've got you, baby," I sobbed, holding her tight, covering her hair with kisses as the rain poured down through the open trapdoor above us. "I've got you. He's never touching you again. Never, ever again."
