Chapter 3 - The Highway MotelAn hour later, we crossed the county line. The grip of Crestwood's corruption ended at the highway, but I still couldn't risk a hospital. I pulled into the flickering neon glow of the Starlite Motel & Diner, a rundown truck stop that looked like it hadn't been updated since the 1980s.
I carried Lily, bundled tightly in the jacket, into the diner. It was mostly empty, save for a tired-looking waitress wiping down the counter and an old trucker nursing a cup of black coffee.
"Excuse me," I said to the waitress, pulling a fifty-dollar bill from my wallet. "My daughter fell into a freezing creek out back. Do you have any hot chicken broth? And maybe some warm towels?"
The waitress, a woman in her fifties with a kind face and a nametag that read Betty, took one look at Lily's blue lips and sprang into action. "Oh, you poor thing! Sit right here in the booth. I'll get the soup and put some dry towels in the microwave."
Within minutes, Lily was wrapped in warm, steaming towels, slowly sipping hot broth from a mug. The color was finally starting to return to her cheeks. I sat across from her, my hands shaking as the adrenaline began to wear off, leaving behind a profound, hollow exhaustion.
"Are you feeling better, baby?" I asked softly.
Lily nodded, taking another small sip of the soup. Her large, hazel eyes—so much like her mother’s, yet entirely devoid of her mother’s cruelty—stared at me over the rim of the mug.
"Daddy," she said quietly, her voice steadier now. "Grandma didn't put me in there just because I was hungry."
I frowned, leaning forward. "What do you mean, sweetie?"
Lily looked around the diner, as if afraid Evelyn might step out of the shadows. "I was playing hide-and-seek by myself in the garage. I hid behind the big freezer. Grandma and Mommy came in. They didn't know I was there."
My stomach tightened. "What did they say?"
"Mommy was crying. She said, 'I can't do it, Mother. It's too messy.' And Grandma slapped her." Lily winced at the memory. "Grandma slapped Mommy right across the face and said, 'The policy pays out five million dollars on Friday. It has to look like an accident.'"
I stopped breathing.
Five million dollars.
Last month, Taylor had insisted we update our life insurance policies. She said it was standard procedure through her new corporate benefits package. I had signed the paperwork without reading the fine print, trusting my wife.
"They kept talking," Lily continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Grandma said she bought a special poison. She said it stops the heart, and doctors can't find it. She hid it in the freezer, wrapped in butcher paper."
A wave of nausea crashed over me. They were planning to murder me. That was the "tune-up" at the mechanic. That was the tracker on the truck. They were going to kill me, stage an accident, and collect the payout.
"I bumped the shelf," Lily whispered, a tear finally spilling over her lashes. "I made a noise. Grandma looked behind the freezer and found me. She looked at Mommy and said, 'The rat heard everything.' That's when she grabbed my arm and threw me inside."
They hadn't locked her in there to discipline her. They had locked her in the freezer to silence her. To freeze her to death and claim it was a tragic childhood accident, clearing the path to murder me next.
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Before I could say a word, the diner door chimed.
I looked up. Standing in the entrance, flanked by two men in dark suits, was Evelyn.
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