Chapter 8 - The Person Inside
Detective Ortiz photographed every page.
She didn’t react to the amount of money.
She reacted to the departure time.
Tomorrow.
12:30 p.m.
Four hours after the false death entry.
“The flight could be canceled,” Adrian said.
“Don’t touch it,” Ortiz replied.
“They’re planning to take my child.”
“And now we have something specific to investigate. Don’t warn them which part we found.”
He stepped away, furious.
But he listened.
Ruth called the judge’s clerk.
Dr. Sloan sent her records.
The hospital restricted my visitors.
For the first time, people were working around me without pretending I wasn’t there.
At seven that evening, a nurse brought dinner.
Soup.
Crackers.
A small cup of red gelatin.
I took one bite and put the spoon down.
Adrian sat outside my room with his jacket folded over his knees.
He hadn’t asked to come back in.
I pressed the call button.
“Could someone tell him he can sit here?”
The nurse smiled a little.
Adrian came in carefully.
“You should eat,” he said.
“You should sleep.”
“I will.”
“You’re lying.”
“So are you.”
I looked at the soup.
Neither of us smiled.
“What were you going to name her?” he asked.
“I already did.”
“Evelyn Mae.”
I nodded.
“It’s beautiful.”
“She’s not a second chance for us.”
He looked down.
“I know.”
“I need you to know it.”
“I do.”
A knock interrupted us.
A man in hospital scrubs stood at the door with a wheelchair.
“Transfer to imaging.”
I glanced at the clock.
“Now?”
“Doctor’s orders.”
Adrian stood.
The man checked the band on my wrist.
“Claire Moretti.”
My nurse came out of the next room.
“What imaging?”
“Downstairs.”
“Which department?”
His eyes moved toward the elevator.
It happened so fast I nearly missed it.
His right hand reached beneath the folded blanket on the chair.
Adrian stepped between us.
“Hands where she can see them.”
The man abandoned the chair and ran.
The nurse hit the emergency button.
Marco caught him at the stairwell.
There was no gun.
Inside the folded blanket was a syringe.
I sat on the bed with both hands over my stomach.
Ortiz arrived ten minutes later.
The man refused to speak.
His badge was stolen.
His scrubs were new.
But his phone had received a message three minutes before he reached my room.
The detective showed me a photograph of the screen.
Patient alone after seven. Husband outside.
May you like
Only one person had checked on me at 6:57.
The nurse who brought my dinner.
