CHAPTER 4
The sound that left Emily’s mouth was not a word.
It was grief turning into rage.
She pushed past Vivian and ran to the cage.
“Mom.”
Eleanor reached through the bars with trembling fingers.
Emily dropped to her knees on the stone floor and grabbed her mother’s hands.
They were cold.
Too cold for a warm afternoon.
Eleanor began crying the moment Emily touched her.
“I knew you’d come home,” she whispered.
Emily looked at the cage door.
A small lock hung on the latch.
Not decorative.
Not accidental.
Locked.
Emily turned slowly toward Vivian.
“You locked her in a cage.”
Vivian lifted both hands.
“It isn’t what it looks like.”
Emily stood.
Her face was wet, but her voice was controlled.
“Then explain it.”
Vivian looked toward the large wooden doorway.
No one came to save her.
“She wanders,” Vivian said quickly. “She gets confused. She tried to leave the property twice.”
“So you put my mother in a cage?”
“It’s a patio enclosure.”
Emily’s eyes went dead cold.
May you like
“It has a lock.”
Vivian’s mouth closed.
