Hush Little Girl by Lisa Regan (first e reader .txt) 📗

“Let me call the girls,” Lorelei had said then, returning to the living room. At the bottom of the steps, she had called their names. When she didn’t get any response, she banged on the wall three times.

Gretchen moved out of her way as Josie went to the bottom of the steps. She didn’t call for Emily. Instead, she banged on the wall three times, in approximately the same place Lorelei had.

Then she listened.

Gretchen said, “You want to tell me what’s happening right now, boss?”

Josie didn’t take her eyes off the top of the steps. “She was signaling them,” she told Gretchen. “The day I was here with them. She had left them here alone. When we got here, she did all these things that I didn’t even realize were significant at the time. They must have been hiding and she was giving them an all-clear. Doorbell twice, chair scraping over the floor, three bangs on the wall.”

“Was that it?”

“Shit.”

Josie followed in Lorelei’s footsteps, heading halfway up the stairs. Lorelei had stopped on the fifth or sixth step and stomped on it four times. Turning back to Josie, she’d smiled. “This old carpet,” she’d said. “Keeps getting loose.”

But now Josie saw there was no loose area of carpet. It was part of the signal. Without boots or shoes of any kind, it would be difficult to make a lot of noise. Josie hitched up her dress and lifted one foot as far as she could, bringing it down hard four times on the step.

She waited. A rustling came from somewhere on the second floor. Then a quiet creak, followed by more rustling, another creak, and the sound of small feet scuttering along the hallway. Josie’s heart seemed to stop for a split second.

Emily Mitchell appeared at the top of the steps. Her brown hair was messy and matted. Wrinkles covered her blue pajamas. She was missing a sock. Clutched in her arms was a stuffed dog with long, floppy ears.

Josie’s heart thundered back to life. She’d spent the last several hours trying not to think about what might be happening to this little girl at the hands of a ruthless killer. Seeing her alive, safe, and unharmed sent a surge of relief through Josie’s veins.

“Hi, Emily,” she said.

Seven

Emily stared at Josie warily, unmoving. Josie climbed another step. How long had the girl been hiding? How many hours? She had to be starving, exhausted, and terrified. Josie smiled. “I’m so glad you came out,” she said. “We’re here to help you.”

Emily’s grip on the stuffed dog tightened as Josie climbed the final few steps, kneeling on the landing so she was face to face with her. “It’s safe now, Emily.”

Her hazel eyes widened as she took in Josie’s dress. “Did I die?” she whispered.

For the umpteenth time that day, Josie felt her heart might break apart in her chest. “No,” she reassured her. “You are very much alive.”

“Are you an angel?”

Josie laughed. “No. I’m a police officer.”

Emily still didn’t move, but Josie took it as a good sign that she wasn’t recoiling. She whispered, “You look like an angel.”

Josie looked down at her dress and smiled once more. “Thank you. I was supposed to get married today. That’s why I look like this. But I am really a police officer, and I came here to get you and make sure you stay safe. There are a bunch more police officers downstairs and outside, waiting for us.”

Emily didn’t respond.

Josie said, “I was here before, you know? A few months ago. I had coffee and banana bread with you and your mom and sister.”

One of Emily’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly.

Josie massaged the right side of her face, feeling the thin scar beneath her fingers as she rubbed the make-up away. She turned her head so Emily could get a clear view. “Remember this? You asked me about it.”

Emily’s face changed instantly, a look of recognition and excitement flashing across it. Then it quickly died. “Where’s Mama and Holly?”

Josie glanced at the bottom of the steps to see Gretchen standing there. What could Josie say? What should she say? She didn’t know how much Emily knew or what she had seen. Telling her the truth would be emotionally catastrophic, but Josie couldn’t see the advantage in lying. In her experience, adults sometimes had this natural instinct to lie to children about bad things, thinking they were somehow shielding or protecting them, when often, children took things better than adults. Josie’s own childhood had been filled with trauma, abuse, and uncertainty, and yet, the truth, no matter how difficult it was to hear, had always made life simpler to navigate.

Josie said, “I’m very sorry, Emily, but they’re not with us anymore.”

“They’re dead,” Emily said. It wasn’t a question, and there was no hint of hopefulness in her tone that perhaps Josie would oppose this statement. She knew.

“I’m so sorry, Emily.”

“Mama said the bad things might happen,” Emily said. “She was right.”

“What bad things?” Josie asked.

“Mama said I never had to talk about them if I didn’t want to.”

“Okay,” Josie said, not wanting to press the issue. The girl’s psyche was surely very fragile at this point, and Josie wasn’t about to say or do anything that might cause more damage. Instead, she said, “You were so smart by hiding, and you were so disciplined staying in your hiding spot until I gave you the signal to come out.”

Emily nodded. “Holly taught me.”

Josie exchanged a brief glance with Gretchen. She was one of the most stoic detectives Josie had ever met, but Josie could see the strain in her face. What the hell had been going on in this house that Emily’s older sister had taught her to hide when bad things happened?

“Did Holly hide with you today at all?” Josie asked.

Emily shook her head. “No. She couldn’t hide today. I went by myself.”

“That was very good,” Josie assured her. “I’m glad you did. Can you