Page 13 of Not Our Daughter

But they did it all for Jade. Their daughter was not going to understand any of this. It would be devastating to rip her out of her life with no explanation—especially on her birthday. But Lisa had no choice. One way or another, her daughter’s life as she knew it was over. She checked her watch, marking the exact time. Four minutes.

She turned, rushed up the stairs. She took several breaths, trying to stay in control. It was difficult. The growing panic felt like a roaring lion inside her. She knew she couldn’t allow the wild animal to get to the surface. Not with what she had to accomplish with Jade in such a short amount of time. She’d prayed for years that she would never have to do this. That she would never have to step into her daughter’s bedroom and destroy everything Jade thought she knew about her life. But that moment had come anyway. Still, she prayed again, and then entered Jade’s bedroom. Her daughter was curled up on her bed, back against the pillows, headphones over her ears, eyes glued to her phone. Probably texting with friends. Just like she did every other free moment. Those days were about to be over. Jade turned toward the door when she finally noticed her mom.

She took off her headphones. “Hey, is Dad home? I heard his truck. But then it sounded like he just drove off again or something.”

Lisa swallowed, ignored the question, spoke in an urgent tone. “Honey, listen to me very carefully. We must leave the houseright now. You have four minutes to throw whatever you can into a bag. And then we’re driving away.”

Jade tilted her head. “What? Is this some kind of fun birthday thing?”

“No, this is very serious. I can’t explain right now. But I need you to do what I just said. We’re pulling out of the driveway in exactly four minutes.”

Jade’s face bunched up. “Mom, what are you talking about? You’re kinda scaring me. What’s wrong?”

“We’re in trouble, baby. Real trouble. People are coming here.”

“What? What people? What happened?”

She couldn’t stay calm any longer. “Jade, please! Now get moving!”

Her daughter suddenly scrambled out of the bed. “But ... what am I supposed to pack? Where are we going?”

“Whatever is valuable to you. Nothing more. Don’t worry about your clothes.”

“What do you mean, don’t worry about clothes?”

“I already have a bag of clothes packed for you.”

“What? You do? Why?”

“Give me your phone,” Lisa demanded, again ignoring Jade’s question.

“Why, Mom? You’re freaking me out so bad!”

“Please just give it to me.”

Jade reluctantly handed over her phone. “I don’t understand what’s happening!”

Lisa could see tears forming in her daughter’s eyes. She pulled Jade into her chest with both arms. “I’m sorry, baby. I know this is so confusing, and scary. But I just need you to trust me right now, okay? Trust your mom. Meet me downstairs. Please hurry!”

Lisa turned, rushed out of the bedroom, bounded down the stairs. She passed through their primary bedroom and into the main closet, where she quickly changed out of her pajama pants and into a pair of blue jeans. She was already wearing a blue sweatshirt with ASPEN stitched in white on the front from a family road trip they’d taken the previous year. She sat on a stool, tugged on socks, and then quickly laced up a pair of Nike running shoes. Then she bolted out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen. She could hear rumbling around from Jade’s bedroom upstairs. Hopefully that meant her daughter was doing as she was told. Lisa pulled open a kitchen drawer and grabbed a hammer. She put Jade’s cell phone on the counter and banged it hard with the tool. The screen shattered. Several more swings with the hammer and the phone completely broke apart.

Lisa darted from the kitchen, moved into the foyer, and peeked out a front window. She spotted car headlights coming in her direction.She stiffened, was about to scream for Jade, but then realized it was just their neighbor, Joe Henderson. He passed their home and pulled into a garage two houses down. She gave a quick thought to her neighbors. Their worlds were going to be rocked, too, when they found out the truth about who they’d been living next to all these years. She could hear them now in the days ahead, sitting in camping chairs in the Peters’ driveway across the street, while the kids all played outside—like they’d been doing for years—talking about the shock of all this.

They were living right next to us.

We had Cole and Lisa in our home all the time.

Our daughter has been best friends with Jade since second grade.

How could Cole and I fish together nearly every Saturday morning without me knowing anything about any of this?

Lisa was so lovely. I can’t believe they committed a murder.

And so on and so forth. Lisa would have no opportunity to ever tell them the truth. To convince them all of it was lies. That hurt her so much. She cared deeply about these people. They had become family. Her only family. And now it would all be shattered. Tears hit her own eyes. She quickly wiped them away, raced back to the stairs.

“Jade! Now! We have to go! Right now!”

Her daughter appeared at the top of the stairs with a black backpack over her shoulder. She’d also changed into blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a Taylor Swift sweatshirt.

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