CHAPTER 2 — The Man in Michael's Clothes
CHAPTER 2 — The Man in Michael's Clothes
The boots stopped less than three feet from the cabinet.
I pressed my hand over Sophie's mouth, terrified even the sound of her breathing would betray us.
Silence.
Then came a low chuckle.
"I know you're in here somewhere, Laura."
Every muscle in my body locked.
It was Michael's voice.
Perfectly Michael's voice.
But now that I was listening closely, there was something rehearsed about it—like an actor repeating lines he'd memorized.
The stranger opened a kitchen drawer.
Metal clinked.
Another drawer.
Cabinet doors creaked open one by one.
He wasn't searching randomly.
He was checking every place a person could hide.
My pulse pounded so loudly I was certain he could hear it.
Sophie slowly reached into the pocket of her pajamas and pulled out my phone.
I frowned.
I'd been looking for it all evening.
She had hidden it.
With trembling fingers, she typed a message instead of calling.
DON'T MAKE NOISE.
Then another.
HE TOOK DADDY LAST NIGHT.
I stared at the screen.
What?
I looked down at her.
Her eyes pleaded with me to believe her.
Last night Michael had supposedly been in Denver finishing a conference.
We'd video-called around nine.
He'd smiled.
He'd talked to Sophie.
He'd even reminded me to lock the garage door.
Unless...
Unless that hadn't been Michael either.
A floorboard groaned.
The boots moved closer.
The cabinet door we were hiding behind shook slightly as someone leaned against the counter above us.
"I brought your favorite coffee," the man called casually.
"Come on, Laura."
"This isn't funny anymore."
I felt my stomach twist.
Only Michael knew about the expensive Colombian roast he always bought after business trips.
How could this stranger know that?
The answer terrified me.
He knew Michael.
Very well.
A buzzing sound interrupted the silence.
The stranger answered a phone.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"No, they're not here."
Another pause.
"I've searched the downstairs."
My blood turned to ice.
They.
There was more than one.
The man lowered his voice.
"...If the girl saw anything, we can't leave witnesses."
Sophie's tiny fingers dug painfully into my arm.
She had heard it too.
We weren't imagining this.
Someone wanted us dead.
The call ended.
The boots walked away toward the hallway.
A bedroom door opened upstairs.
Then another.
Furniture scraped across hardwood.
He was searching room by room.
I leaned close to Sophie.
"What do you mean he took Daddy?" I whispered so softly the words barely existed.
She swallowed.
Yesterday...
After school...
She had forgotten her sketchbook and insisted they drive back home before going to dance class.
Their street had been empty.
As Michael loaded groceries from the garage, a black SUV rolled slowly to the curb.
Two men got out.
One called Michael's name.
When he turned—
They shocked him with a stun gun.
Sophie gasped.
Michael shouted for her to hide.
She slipped behind the hedge just before one of the men looked her way.
From there she watched them force Michael into the SUV.
Five minutes later...
Another man climbed out.
He looked almost exactly like Michael.
Same height.
Same haircut.
Same jacket.
He practiced Michael's smile in the SUV mirror before driving away.
Sophie's little voice cracked.
"I thought nobody would believe me."
"I was scared."
"I didn't know what to do."
My entire world tilted.
If what she said was true...
Then every phone call...
Every text...
Every video chat since yesterday...
Had been with someone pretending to be my husband.
A loud crash exploded upstairs.
The stranger cursed.
He was coming back down.
Fast.
I looked around desperately.
There was only one exit from the kitchen.
He would see us immediately.
Then I remembered something.
The old crawl space.
When we renovated the house three years earlier, the contractor had left a narrow maintenance tunnel behind the pantry wall.
Hardly anyone knew it existed.
Not even Michael had ever used it.
I carefully pushed aside a loose panel behind the cabinet.
Cold air rushed through the opening.
Just wide enough for Sophie.
Then me.
The footsteps entered the kitchen again.
"Laaaura..."
The fake Michael's voice sounded almost playful now.
"I found something interesting upstairs."
He paused.
"Sophie's backpack."
"I know you're still in the house."
The pantry door creaked open.
He was only seconds away.
I squeezed through the narrow opening behind Sophie.
As I pulled the hidden panel shut behind us, I heard the cabinet beneath the sink rip open.
A furious roar echoed through the kitchen.
"They were here!"
Then another voice answered from somewhere inside the house.
A voice that definitely wasn't Michael's.
May you like
"Seal every exit."
"They're not getting away this time."
