Chapter 5 - The Phone on the Porch
I opened it and found Brooke standing under the porch light, thinner than I remembered, gray in the face.
"Brooke?"
She reached into her jacket and pulled out a phone with a spiderweb crack across the screen.
I knew it before she said a word.
"That's Maddie's."
She nodded.
My hand clamped down on the doorframe. "If my daughter is alive, you say that to me first. Right now."
Brooke's whole face collapsed. "She's alive. Maddie's alive. She's safe."
I grabbed her by both shoulders. "Where is she?"
"Please," she said. "She made me promise to show you the photo first."
"My kid has been missing for a year, Brooke. I am done with people keeping things from me."
She held the phone out with a shaking hand. "Look at the last photo. Maddie wanted you to know the truth about what happened that day. But you have to keep it a secret."
Then her voice cracked in half.
"She thinks you're going to hate her."
"I'll figure out what I feel," I said, "after somebody tells me where she is."
May you like
I took the phone and unlocked it. The photo gallery opened on its own.
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