Chapter 5

My mom seemed to sense something was wrong. She grabbed my dad’s arm, her nails digging deeply into his skin.

"The victim is your daughter, Emily."

She collapsed to the ground, repeating in disbelief, "Emily? How could it be her?"

My dad held her up tightly, preventing her from falling completely.

One of the officers whispered, "Mr. Lambert, we found the crime scene. It was located in a privately-built house near the abandoned building."

My dad immediately responded, "Let’s head to the scene. The forensic lab must have made a mistake."

In the police car, my mom kept dialing my number over and over. My dad focused on driving, his eyes fixed on the road.

He tried to reassure my mom. "Don’t worry. Maybe Emily went to the station and is in on this prank with the forensic team."

But deep down, he must have known this was not the kind of thing anyone could fake.

I could not describe how I felt. It was as if a venomous snake had wrapped itself around me, squeezing tighter and tighter