Where the Streets Have No Name
Chapter 68
Edward sat down the wine bottle on the counter top and reached for the baby monitor. The front-side of the device that sported the speaker outlet and the control nobs was turned toward the wall.
Edward slowly turned it around in his hand, an overpowering sense of unease guiding his actions.
The baby monitor was switched off.
Edward would never be able to pinpoint the exact emotion that flashed through his mind in the seconds following his discovery.
Dread, shame, anger, hate, fear; they all vied for sole dominance.
Dread for what he might find when he went to Ella's nursery.
Shame for whiling away so much time enjoying food without ensuring his daughter's safety first.
Anger toward himself for being so susceptible to an easy ruse.
Hate toward Carmen for luring him away from his duty with her cunning ploy and by playing on his guilt.
But perhaps the foremost of them all, fear that he might have lost the most precious thing he had in his life - Ella.
Andrea Yates.
Susan Smith.
Marybeth Tinning.
A slew of infamous names paraded through the fear gripped thoroughfare of his psyche.
Carmen was alone with Ella for over an hour. How long did it take to drown a baby Ella's age? Or snuff out her life with a pillow?
God, no. Please don't let her be dead.
A cold terror filled his heart and nearly rendered him paralyzed. He couldn't bring his fingers to turn on the baby monitor, lest the sound wave that came through it proved his worst fears.
What if it stayed silent even after he turned it on?
What if...
Instead he pricked his ear to hear Ella's cries coming from her room upstairs. It was a big house, but it was still possible to hear a baby's wail, however subdued.
He heard nothing.
No, no, no, no, no...
He knew he needed to run up the stairs and go to the nursery, but his legs refused to aid him. His knee joints trembled in strain and threatened to cave.
With shaky hands, he turned the nob to bring the baby monitor to life.
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