“I see,” Sandra said. She didn’t write anything down. She just nodded once. “Let’s see her bedroom.”

We followed Richard up the narrow wooden stairs. The steps creaked loudly under our feet. At the end of the dark hallway, there was a single door.

On the outside of the door frame, a heavy brass latch had been installed. A massive brass padlock hung from it, locking the door securely from the hallway.

Richard stopped in front of it. For the first time, his polite smile completely disappeared. His jaw tensed.

“She sleeps in here,” he said, his voice dropping its friendly tone. “Again, it’s because of the sleepwalking. I can’t have her wandering outside in the Wisconsin winter. It’s for her protection.”

“Unlock it,” Sandra said. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was like ice.

Richard hesitated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brass key. His hands were steady, but he was breathing heavily. He unlocked the padlock and swung the door open.

My brain genuinely stopped working for a second when I looked inside.

There was no bed. There was no dresser, no colorful blankets, no stuffed animals. There was only a single, thin dog mat resting on the cold hardwood floor in the corner.

Next to the mat was a small plastic bucket.

And sitting in the middle of the empty room, looking incredibly bright against the gray floorboards, was Toby’s faded blue canvas lunchbox.

It was open. Inside were a few apple seeds and an empty juice carton. Lily had kept her treasures hidden in her prison.

“You monster,” I whispered, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

Richard turned on me, his face suddenly twisting into something furious and ugly. “You have no right to be in my house! Get the hell out of here before I-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Sandra was already on her phone, her voice calm as she read off the address to the police dispatcher.

Within ten minutes, two police cruisers pulled up the overgrown driveway, their red and blue lights flashing against the rotting wood of the porch.

Richard Vance didn’t smile when the handcuffs clicked around his wrists. He screamed at the officers, his polite mask completely shattered. He kicked at the dirt as they led him down the steps, his face turning a bright, angry red as the neighbors stared from their windows.