Chapter 2 - The Boot Had Been Sealed
Dr. Evans took control.
Nobody was cutting anything else until Lily could be properly assessed.
Greg objected immediately.
“She needs to go home.”
Officer Ruiz tightened his grip.
“She isn’t going anywhere with you.”
Sarah looked at her husband as if she had never seen him before.
“What did you put in that boot?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you terrified of them opening it?”
Greg turned toward her.
“Sarah, shut up.”
That was a mistake.
Not because Sarah shouted back.
She didn’t.
She simply moved closer to Lily.
Their marriage changed in that second.
Dr. Evans examined the boot without removing it.
Something had been applied around the upper opening.
Clear adhesive.
Not hospital tape.
Not something Lily could have done herself.
The boot had effectively been sealed around her leg.
“How long has she been wearing this?” Dr. Evans asked.
Sarah looked confused.
“Since yesterday morning.”
“Continuously?”
“I thought she took it off last night.”
Lily shook her head.
“Daddy said no.”
Sarah stared at Greg.
“You slept in the guest room with her.”
Greg said nothing.
I remembered the call that brought us here.
Sarah had phoned me because Lily fell in their garage that morning and injured her arm.
Greg insisted she was fine.
Sarah disagreed.
I drove over.
When I arrived, Lily was crying about her boot.
Greg claimed she was being dramatic.
I brought them to the ER anyway.
Now Dr. Evans noticed something else.
Tiny punctures had been made near the top of the rubber.
Four of them.
Deliberate.
Ventilation holes.
That made no sense if Greg was simply trying to keep the boot waterproof.
Officer Ruiz asked him again.
“What’s inside?”
Greg laughed nervously.
“You people have turned a kid’s rain boot into a criminal investigation.”
Lily flinched at his voice.
I saw it.
So did Ruiz.
Then Lily whispered:
“Daddy put food inside.”
Dr. Evans looked at her.
“What kind of food, sweetheart?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see it?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
Lily swallowed.
“Because he said whatever was in the bag needed to eat.”
Nobody spoke.
I looked down at that yellow boot.
The movement came again.
Slowly.
May you like
From beneath the rubber.
Whatever Greg had hidden inside was not the only thing in there.
