The message contained a single sentence:
Emergency call received from this residence. Officers are en route.
Patricia's smile disappeared.
Ethan froze.
“What did you do?”
Claire said nothing.
Then came the sound of sirens.
Two police cars stopped outside.
Behind them was an ambulance.
And behind the ambulance was another vehicle.
Claire recognized the woman who stepped out.
Her father's hospice nurse.
Patricia stared at the front door.
“How did she—?”
Claire interrupted quietly.
“You forgot something.”
“What?”
“My father.”
The nurse entered with two officers.
She looked at Claire's ankle.
Then at Ethan.
Then at Patricia.
“Who put that chain on her?”
Nobody answered.
One officer walked toward Ethan.
“Sir, step away from her.”
Patricia immediately started talking.
