Chapter 9 - REUNION IN THE DARK
It took less than three minutes to cut the heavy zip-ties binding the mother—Sarah Jenkins—to the chair.
When the tape was peeled away from her mouth, her first words weren't a cry of pain; they were a frantic, breathless scream for her children.
“Lily! Leo! Are my babies okay?!” she sobbed, her voice raw and cracking.
“They’re safe, ma'am. They’re upstairs in the apartment, waiting for you,” Miller assured her gently, wrapping his department jacket around her shivering shoulders. “Your little girl called 911. She kept the door locked just like you told her.”
Tears streamed down Sarah’s face as the officers helped her up out of the damp crawlspace, leading her out through the open door of Suite 12 and across the courtyard toward Unit 3B.
She had gone downstairs at midnight simply to throw out a bag of garbage, intending to be gone for sixty seconds. When she passed Pendelton’s door, he had dragged her inside under the threat of a knife, locking her away in the basement tunnels while he systematically cut power to her apartment, hoping to terrorize the children into opening the door.
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But Lily had held the line. She had protected her brother, trusted the police, and followed every single instruction her mother had left behind.
As Sarah reached the door of Unit 3B, she didn't even wait for the officers to knock. She pushed it open.
