Cora: Lily! Oh my God, Lily!
David: Get down here, Nurse Clara! Quick!
Lily's chest was heaving up and down in violent, shallow gasps. Her small lips were turning a faint shade of blue as she clutched her stuffed bunny against her yellow sweater. The damp, dusty air of the cellar had triggered a massive asthma attack, exactly as I had feared.
Nurse Clara rushed down the narrow stone steps, carrying a small portable nebulizer machine and a blue oxygen mask. She dropped to her knees on the cold floor right beside the trembling little girl.
Clara: Come on, sweetheart... breathe! Put this over your face, nice and easy!
Lily: It... it hurts, Clara... it feels like rocks on my chest...
Clara: I know, baby girl. Just breathe in the cool air. Hold the mask tight for me.
Nurse Clara clicked the power switch on the machine. The soft, rhythmic hum of the nebulizer filled the quiet stone room, sending a thick cloud of white medicine mist through the blue mask. Lily pressed the plastic edge over her mouth and nose, closing her eyes as she took long, desperate inhalations.
David rushed into the room right behind the nurse. He dropped his heavy trench coat onto the stone floor and dropped to his knees, pulling Lily's shaking frame into a tight, fierce embrace. He buried his face in her soft hair, his shoulders trembling as heavy tears spilled from his eyes.
David: I'm here, baby... you're safe now. Daddy's got you. Nobody is ever going to hurt you again.
Lily: Daddy... the mean lady locked the door... she said you were never coming back...
David: She lied to you, sweetie. I will always come back for you. Always.
Up at the top of the cellar stairs, Evelyn stood under the hallway light, her face pale as a sheet. Arthur stood beside her, his jaw set in cold, unforgiving disgust as he looked at his wife.
Arthur: You told me she was playing in the garden, Evelyn. You lied to my face while my granddaughter was suffocating down here.
Evelyn: Arthur, listen to me! I didn't know she had asthma! The nurse never told me!
Clara: That is an absolute lie, Mrs. Sterling! I handed you her medical chart three weeks ago when you moved into this mansion!
Cora: She knew, Arthur. She knew exactly what she was doing.
David stood up slowly from the stone floor, his broad shoulders looming in the dim cellar light. He turned his head, looking up the flight of stairs toward Evelyn with a expression so cold it made the air in the room feel even colder.
David: Cora, stay down here with Lily and Nurse Clara until her breathing stabilizes.
Cora: David, what are you going to do?
David: I'm going to call Detective Vance. And then I'm going to find out why Evelyn was so desperate to keep Lily locked away in this specific room.