The dispatcher answered on the second ring, and I said the words before fear could choke them back…
The dispatcher answered on the second ring, and I said the words before fear could choke them back.
“My husband is doing something to my daughter. Please send someone now.”
I heard my own voice shaking, but I kept talking. I gave our address, my daughter’s age, and told her there was a cup, a timer, and some kind of secret game in the bathroom.
Then the front door opened downstairs.
Dana didn’t wait for me to let her in. She called my name once, sharp and low, and I opened the laundry room door just enough to see her moving down the hall.
She took one look at my face and understood.
“What did you see?” she asked.
“He’s making Sophie drink something,” I said. “He’s timing her.”
Dana didn’t waste a second. She told the dispatcher she was a pediatric nurse and that police needed to hurry. Then she moved past me toward the bathroom.
I grabbed her arm.
“What if he hears us?”
“He already has your daughter alone,” she said. “That’s the emergency.”
She pushed the bathroom door open.
Mark turned so fast the paper cup sloshed over his hand. Sophie flinched at the sound. The kitchen timer kept ticking, loud and stupid on the counter.
Dana stepped between the tub and my daughter before Mark could say a word.
“Back away from her,” she said.
