Lily’s voice came out as a sob.
—Mommy… locked us in.
My first impulse was to pound the numeric keypad until my knuckles were raw. I didn’t. I forced myself to breathe.
“Okay,” I whispered to Lily, crouching down to her level. “Listen to me. You’re doing amazing. We’re going to do exactly what we need to do, and we’re not going to panic.”
Her eyes were enormous.
“He did it with his phone,” she whispered. “I saw him do it earlier when we went to Grandma’s and he forgot to lock the door. He laughed and said, ‘Technology, baby.’”
I sat up slowly and looked at the alarm panel. The house had a smart security system that Derek had insisted on installing; “for safety,” he’d said. Cameras, smart locks, sensors on the windows. At first, I’d liked it. Now it felt like a cage.
I grabbed my phone and tried calling Derek. Straight to voicemail. I tried again. Voicemail.
My hands were shaking as I dialed 911. The call rang and then dropped. I looked at my phone. One bar of signal. Then none.
“No,” I sighed. “No, no…”
