Chapter 8 - The Sound of Sirens
The wind howled past Lila’s ears as she hung suspended over the drop. Below her, the mud raged in rivers around the carriage house foundations. Her hands were slipping on the wet floorboards.
Inside the loft, Claire rubbed her eyes frantically, stumbling toward the open ledge.
"Give me that tape!" Claire screamed, leaning out over the drop, reaching down to grab Lila’s wrists. Her fingers clawed at Lila’s sleeves.
"Let go of her!"
A new voice boomed across the storm.
High-powered blue and red lights suddenly lit up the entire tree line behind the carriage house. Two heavy black SUVs tore across the wet lawn, spinning their tires, coming to a sudden, violent halt right below the loft opening.
Aunt Eleanor stepped out of the lead vehicle, holding a heavy torch, flanked by three uniformed police officers with drawn weapons.
"Claire Dalton!" Eleanor’s voice echoed through a police megaphone, sharp and full of lethal thunder. "Step away from my niece! The police have full access to Naomi’s Boston financial records! It's over!"
Claire froze. The flashing red and blue lights illuminated her manic, mud-covered face, turning her into a ghoulish shadow against the dark loft.
"No..." Claire whispered, backing away from the ledge. "No, this isn't how it ends..."
Lila’s fingers slipped.
She let out a high-pitched cry as her grip failed entirely.
She fell.
Fifteen feet down through the storm.
"Lila!" Eleanor screamed.
Lila slammed hard into the thick, soft mud at the base of the carriage house. The impact knocked the wind completely out of her lungs, sending cold shockwaves through her small body, but the soft earth saved her bones from breaking.
She rolled over onto her back, gasping for air, rain pouring down into her face.
In her right arm, crushed against her chest, the portable cassette player was still intact.
Two police officers rushed forward, lifting Lila up out of the freezing mud, wrapping her immediately in a heavy, warm wool blanket.
"I have her! She's breathing! She's okay!" an officer shouted back toward Eleanor.
Eleanor dropped her torch and ran through the mud, falling to her knees right beside Lila, pulling the shivering ten-year-old girl into a fierce, desperate embrace.
"I've got you, darling," Eleanor sobbed, her tears mixing with the freezing rain against Lila’s cheek. "I'm here. Aunt Eleanor is here. You're safe now."
Up in the loft opening, Claire turned to run back toward the ladder, but she was met by two officers who had entered through the ground floor.
"Claire Dalton, drop the iron bar! Hands behind your head! Now!"
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Claire looked down at the iron bar in her hand, then looked out at the flashing lights, Eleanor holding Lila in the mud, and Evan sitting weeping hysterically in the dirt below.
The iron bar slipped from her fingers, falling into the hay with a soft, final thud.
