Officer Davis spun around instantly, drawing his sidearm and pointing it straight at Victoria's chest.
Officer Davis: Do not move! Put your hands where I can see them right now!
Victoria: I didn't do anything! I don't know what's in that wall!
Richard: What did you do to my wife?!
Richard lunged forward, but Officer Davis raised a firm arm to hold him back from crossing the foyer.
Officer Davis: Step back, Mr. Hayes! Let backup secure the perimeter!
Tyler pulled Lily tight against him, covering her eyes so she wouldn't see the dark hole in the plaster.
Tyler: Don't look, Lily. Just look at my jacket.
Lily: Is Mommy coming out now?
From deep inside the wall cavity, a faint, rhythmic sound echoed through the hollow timber.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Richard gasped, his hands shaking so violently he could barely hold himself upright against the wall.
Richard: She's alive. Oh God, she's alive!
Victoria: That's impossible! Two years... nobody could...
Victoria's voice choked off, her eyes bulging as she realized what she had just admitted out loud in front of the officer.
Officer Davis: Nobody could survive two years, ma'am? Is that what you were about to say?
Victoria: That came out wrong! You're twisting my words!
Screeching sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second as police cruisers and rescue trucks raced up the winding private driveway.
Firefighters burst through the entrance moments later carrying heavy sledgehammers and hydraulic saws.
Fire Captain: Where's the structural opening?
Officer Davis: Right here! Corridor wall! Possible trapped individual, proceed with extreme caution!
The firefighters tore into the drywall, ripping away sheets of vintage wallpaper and crumbling gypsum boards.
Behind the false wall sat a narrow, forgotten secondary pantry room with an old iron vent running to the basement exterior.
On the dusty floor beneath a stained wool blanket lay a gaunt, skeletal figure, her pale fingers weakly tapping against the wooden lath.
Richard: Sarah!
Richard threw himself across the broken drywall, tears blinding his eyes as he dropped to his knees beside the emaciated woman.
Sarah: Richard... the kids... are they safe?
Richard: They're safe, my love. They're right here. You're home.
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