vast difference in our ages, we were still extremely close. I was thrilled when they were born, and I couldn’t imagine my life without them in it.
When I parked the car, I was immediately overwhelmed by all the flashing lights and the people … so many people. It was chaos. The neighbors were all standing in their front yards talking and watching as the police rushed around asking questions and writing their reports. I just stood there astonished, frozen with shock. I couldn’t believe that this was all really happening, that it was happening to me, to my family.
Everything was a complete blur, until I spotted the paramedics pushing the two long stretchers down the front walkway. Everything fell silent as I watched them open the doors to the ambulance. The breath rushed from my lungs as I watched them carefully load my parents into the back. My feet wouldn’t move. I felt frozen, terrified. I wanted to call out to my mom. I needed her to tell me that this was all some terrible mistake. I needed her to tell me that they were okay, that this was just a bad dream, but when the doors of the ambulance slammed shut, I knew that was never going to happen. My mom and dad were gone, and no amount of screaming was going to change that.
I had to find Hadley and Charlie. I had to know if they were okay. The hope that they were still alive was the only thing that was keeping me from falling apart. I headed for the house, carefully slipping past the yellow tape that crisscrossed the front door and stepping inside. I was just about to start up the stairs when I felt someone’s hand wrap around my elbow, pulling me back away from the steps as he asked, “Where do you think you are going?”
I looked over my shoulder and immediately caught sight of a large, older man in a policeman’s uniform. I took a step back and said, “I’m Olivia Turner. This is my parents’ house. I need to find my brother and sister…”
“This is a crime scene, Ms. Turner. You can’t just go traipsing through the house interfering with the evidence,” he scolded. “You need to wait out front with Officer Stenson. He’ll have some questions for you.”
I jerked my arm free from his grasp and shouted, “No. I’m not going anywhere. I need to know what the hell is going on. Where are my brother and sister?”
“Ma’am, I know you are upset, but you’ve got to settle down,” he reprimanded.
“And how am I supposed to do that? My parents have been murdered, and I don’t know where my brother and sister are. I’m going crazy here. Can’t you tell me something? Anything?” I pleaded.
“I wish there was more to tell. From what we can gather, someone broke in around one-thirty this morning. There’s no sign of forced entry, so either the door was left unlocked or someone had a key. There are no signs of theft, so it looks like they were here for one reason and one reason only,” he clarified.
“To kill my parents?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“And Charlie and Hadley? What about them?”
“We haven’t been able to locate them. Their beds have been slept in and their clothes are still in the closet, but there’s no sign of them anywhere. From the looks of their rooms, whoever killed your parents tried to find them. Their rooms have been turned upside-down.” He paused for a minute, then leaned in closer to me as he confessed, “My gut tells me they were able to get away, but there’s no real proof of that. You got any idea where they might have gone?”
Hope instantly washed over me. If they were okay, I knew where they were. My mother had a dumbwaiter installed when Hadley was born. She had it placed in the bathroom that was located between their bedrooms, thinking it would help her out with the laundry. Unfortunately, it quickly became a nuisance. My brother and sister loved taking turns hiding inside that creepy thing and inching their way down to the basement. As they got older, they realized that they could take the next step and use the basement window to sneak outside. They’d slip out at all times of the day and night, and it drove my parents crazy. Thankfully, Charlie was only fourteen, so sneaking out usually meant going to the local park around the corner. Hadley would follow