Chapter 5 - THE DOOR OPENED
Marcus lunged toward the cage bars when he saw the phone.
I dragged it beneath my body.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
He grabbed the cage frame and pulled, forgetting he had welded the door after Lorraine accused me of trying to bend the lock.
Another contraction seized me.
I protected my stomach with one arm while Marcus searched for something long enough to reach through the bars.
“You’re not burying the truth with me,” I said.
He stared at me.
Then footsteps struck the basement stairs.
Marcus turned toward the doorway.
The door flew inward, flooding the basement with harsh white light.
Evan entered first, holding his weapon low rather than aiming it at me. A body camera was already recording beneath the front of his jacket.
“Step away from the cage.”
Marcus raised both hands.
“This is not what it looks like.”
Rebecca appeared behind Evan and made a sound I had never heard from my sister before.
Not a scream.
Something quieter and more broken.
Two deputies followed her down. One moved Marcus away from the cage while the other called for paramedics and additional tools.
Lorraine began shouting from upstairs that I was dangerous and the cage existed for everyone’s protection.
Evan looked at the welded door.
“Where is the key?”
Lorraine touched the gold chain at her neck.
The key could still open the original lock.
It could not open the weld.
Firefighters had to cut me out.
Marcus stood at the bottom of the stairs while sparks fell away from the steel. He kept repeating that I entered the cage voluntarily during a mental-health episode.
Then Evan reached beneath the mattress and found the loosened floor panel.
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Inside were the hidden phone, plastic wrapping, and twenty-three recordings.
Marcus stopped talking.
