THE VOW

THE RAID

We didn't call backup.

Rollins said, "If I call it in, my mother gets a phone call. She pays half the force's kids' private school tuition. We go alone."

1 hour back to Cobb County outside Atlanta. Priya drove 110mph the whole way, my notebook on her lap, USB taped to her thigh.

The Vow at 3:30 a.m. looked different. No warm lights. No candles. Black lake like glass. All six houses dark except the laundry house - one bulb on.

Rollins killed the headlights a mile out. "Stay in the car."

"No," I said. "That tunnel is size 6. You won't fit."

He looked at me. He knew I was right.

Priya and I got out, barefoot still, and crept through the trees. The electric fence - Lena said it was electric - but Priya knew where the dead spot was. By the old oak. We slipped through.

The laundry house door was open. Just cracked.

Inside, no Simone. No Mae. No Kevin.

Just blood. Fresh. On the white tile. Drag marks to washer two.

Washer two was moved.

The hole was gone.

Concrete poured. Fresh, still wet.

They filled it.

Priya dropped to her knees and touched it. "No. No no no. Simone said this was our only way out..."

Rollins came in behind us, g*n out, stepping in the blood.

"They knew you would come back," he whispered. "Eleanor always pours concrete. It's how she hides the old tunnels."

Then we heard it. A washing machine running.

Washer ONE. Spinning. Someone left laundry in at 3 a.m.

Rollins opened it.

Inside, not clothes.

A white dress. Size 6. Soaked in water and blood. Name tag: ZURI - 2024 - EARLY RETURN.

And stitched to the dress, a note, in Simone's handwriting:

_TOO LATE, HOUSE ONE. CHECK YOUR OWN HOUSE. - S_

My own house.

House One.

We ran.

Front door of House One was wide open. Lights on. Kevin sitting at the kitchen island. Alone. Head in hands. Crying.

"Zuri? Is that you? They said you ran. They said you were going to get us killed."

"Where is Eleanor?" Rollins pointed his g*n at Kevin.

Kevin looked up, saw the g*n, put his hands up. "She left. 20 minutes ago. Took Simone. Said something about finishing the pour at House One too. I didn't know what she meant."

"Where is House One's pour?" I grabbed his shirt. "Kevin, where did she pour concrete in MY house?"

He pointed, shaking, to the master closet. To the exact board I had lifted 4 hours ago. Where Lena hid her notebook.

We ran to the closet.

The board was open again. But the Ziploc bag was gone.

In its place, wet concrete. Fresh. And in the wet concrete, a handprint. Small. Size 6 woman's handprint. And a bracelet. Silver.

I knew that bracelet. Mae wore it every day. Mae never took it off.

Mae was under the concrete.

Priya screamed.

Rollins holstered his g*n and started digging with his bare hands into the wet cement.

And then the front doorbell rang.

Ding dong.

At 3:42 a.m.

No one rings the doorbell at The Vow. Everyone has a code.

We all froze.

Kevin whispered: "That's the buyer. Early returns always ring. They don't have the code."

The buyer was here. One day early. For me.

Rollins looked at me. "Zuri, if that's who I think it is, we can't arrest him. He's a federal judge. That's why no judge signs my warrants."

He pulled his g*n again.

The doorbell rang a second time.

And then a voice from outside, old, Southern, male:

"Eleanor? I brought the van. Where is my June 14th girl?"