Chapter 5 - Hidden in the Woods
David’s cabin was isolated, nestled deep within a thick grove of blue spruce trees five miles down a dirt access road. The cabin was old but solid, built from heavy cedar logs with a stone fireplace dominating the living room. There was no cell service, but the cabin had a landline telephone for emergencies and a wood-burning stove that kept the chilly mountain air at bay.
For the first forty-eight hours, the silence was a welcome sanctuary. The girls spent their time building blanket forts in the loft, roasting marshmallows in the fireplace, and drawing pictures. Lily’s laughter, a sound I had rarely heard over the past year, began to fill the cozy rooms. She was starting to feel like a normal eight-year-old child again.
On Sunday night, two days before the court hearing, a heavy fog rolled down from the peak, smothering the woods in an impenetrable white veil. The wind howled through the tall pines, making the cabin creak and groan like an old wooden ship.
Around 9:30 PM, after the girls had fallen asleep in the upstairs loft, the landline phone on the kitchen counter began to ring. The shrill sound cut through the quiet house like a siren.
I jumped, my heart leaping into my throat. Only David and Officer Ramirez had this phone number. I hurried across the room and picked up the receiver.
"Hello?" I whispered.
"Rachel... you need to listen to me very carefully," a trembling voice said on the other end. It was Sarah.
My blood ran cold. "How did you get this number, Sarah? Did David give this to you?"
"No! Caleb... Caleb found David’s real estate documents in his office!" Sarah was crying frantically, her words spilling out in a panicked rush. "He broke into David's law office last night! He found the tax records for the LLC that owns that cabin!"
A wave of icy panic rushed through my veins. "Sarah, where is he?!"
"He left two hours ago!" Sarah sobbed. "He took my car! He cut off his ankle monitor, Rachel! He said he’s going to make sure Lily never makes it to the courtroom! He took a gun from the safe!"
"Why are you telling me this now?!" I screamed into the receiver.
"Because I realized I was losing everything!" Sarah wept hysterically. "When I saw him cut that monitor off, I realized he was really going to kill you guys! I love my daughter, Rachel! I was just so scared of him! Call the police! Get out of there right now!"
The phone line suddenly went completely dead. Static filled the earpiece.
I slammed the receiver down and grabbed the handle again, frantically pumping it to get a dial tone. Nothing. The phone line outside the cabin had been cut.
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Suddenly, from the darkness outside the front porch, the low, rumbling crunch of heavy tires rolling over wet gravel echoed through the night. Headlights flashed through the living room windows, casting long, terrifying shadows across the log walls.
He was here.
