I remembered her folded arms and tense expression.
“He was standing beside you.”
“He always was.”
Then, Natalie told me what I had not expected.
Finding the twins in my trash can had not been an accident.
She had chosen it.
“From the upstairs bathroom, I could see part of your driveway,” she explained. “I watched your routine. I knew trash pickup was Tuesday morning. I noticed you usually left the empty can by the curb for a while before bringing it back.”
I stared at her.
“I started teaching Lily and Lucy where to go if they ever got outside. I told them, ‘Find the gray trash can beside Carla’s house. Hide there until Carla comes.’”
“You knew my name?”
“Your mailbox has a little nameplate.”
That also explained how Grant knew it.
Natalie reached for my hand.
“That morning, Grant got angry because I refused to give him the password to my email. Before he dragged me downstairs and locked me in the basement storage room, I managed to unlatch the back door.”
My throat tightened.
“I told the girls to wait until they couldn’t hear him. Then they were supposed to run to you.”
Lily, who was coloring beside us, looked up.
“Mommy said the trash can was the safe place.”
Natalie wiped her eyes.
“Grant thought they were asleep upstairs. By the time he noticed they were gone, they were already hiding.”
I thought about how heavy the can had felt beneath my hand.
Natalie’s voice cracked.
“I had no way to know whether you would look inside.”
“But I did.”
“You did.”
Police later found bags packed with children’s clothes in Grant’s car.
Investigators believed he had been preparing to move them again.
Natalie and the twins stayed with Paige while the case moved forward.
They never returned to the house next door.
