He Gave My Daughter's Ransom to His Brother's Widow

"The kidnappers are furious. They said..."

"Said what? Spit it out!"

Leah finished for him. "They said they're going to kill the hostage."

My mind went blank, like a bomb had detonated inside my skull. The world tilted and spun.

I felt Donald catch me, pinching the pressure point above my lip, shouting my name.

"Zoey! Zoey, are you okay? Don't scare me like this!"

"The police are doing everything they can to track down the kidnappers. Sabina Ball is going to be fine!"

It took me a long time to come back to myself.

Then Donald's phone rang.

He answered, and when he hung up, his voice was shaking with urgency. "Zoey, the police found Sabina! We need to get there now!"

I held on to consciousness by sheer willpower and made it to the location the police had sent. Yellow crime scene tape already cordoned off the area.

Through the tape, I saw a small body covered by a white sheet. A blood-soaked corner of fabric peeked out from beneath it. The jacket I'd just bought my daughter.

An officer approached me. "I'm sorry. The hostage was killed by the kidnappers. We need you to come forward and identify the body."

I clamped my hand over my mouth. My legs buckled.

Donald held me up and guided me to the white sheet.

He pulled it back.

Underneath was a body torn apart beyond recognition, scattered in pieces.

The kidnappers hadn't just killed my daughter. They'd dismembered her.

I thought I'd braced myself. I hadn't. Nothing could have prepared me for this.

"Sabina! My Sabina!"

My hand reached out, trembling violently. I just wanted to touch my daughter one last time.

But before I could, Leah rushed forward and bundled the remains into the white sheet.

She clutched the bundle to her chest and walked straight toward the river.

I stumbled after her. "What are you doing? Put my daughter down!"

Leah moved fast. I had no strength left to keep up.

She reached the riverbank and hurled the bundle into the water.

"The poor child died so horribly. She should be laid to rest quickly. Sabina always loved playing in the water. The river is the perfect place for her."

"Leah! I'll kill you!"

My heart was being ripped from my chest. I wanted nothing more than to drag her down with me.

"You got my daughter killed, and now you won't even let me keep her body? Then you're coming down there with her!"

I threw myself at Leah, clawing, hitting, but I was no match for her. She shoved me to the ground by the riverbank. My phone skidded across the dirt.

Leah stood over me, arms crossed, looking down. "Stop losing your mind, Zoey."

"That cheap phone of yours keeps ringing and ringing. Who's so desperate to reach you? Would it kill you to answer it?"

I glanced at the phone on the ground. The caller ID showed Sabina's kindergarten teacher.

She was probably worried about Sabina too.

"Hello, Ms. Lambert?"

"Sabina's mom, why haven't you or her dad come to pick her up? Sabina Dickerson finished winter camp today. All the other kids have already been picked up by their parents. She's the only one left, and we haven't been able to reach either of you."

Then, through the phone, came my daughter's sweet little voice.

"Mommy! Mommy, when are you coming to get me? You promised you'd take me for pizza when I got back!"

That was my daughter's voice. There was no mistaking it.

My daughter was alive.

But if she was alive, then whose dismembered body had I just seen?