Chapter 3 - THE SECOND DEATH
The paramedics made Daniel step back.
He hated them for it for three seconds, then hated himself.
Noah stood beside the kitchen counter, holding a cracked blue mug.
“Put that down, buddy.”
“It’s her water cup.”
“We’ll bring it.”
“She doesn’t like hospital cups.”
Daniel took the mug carefully.
“Then we’ll bring this one.”
At the emergency room, a nurse asked whether he was family.
“I’m her husband.”
Caroline, half-conscious on the stretcher, closed her eyes.
Noah stared at Daniel.
“You’re my dad?”
There were a thousand things Daniel wanted to say.
He settled for the only honest one.
“I think so.”
Noah’s face tightened.
“You think?”
“I know who your mother is. I know who the baby in that picture is.” Daniel bent toward him. “I just don’t want to make you a promise before I understand what happened.”
The boy looked away.
“Mom said you’d come.”
“I’m here.”
A doctor finally explained that Caroline had a serious infection, dehydration, and a concussion from her fall. She would need treatment and observation.
“She should have come in sooner.”
Daniel looked at the worn canvas bag Noah had brought.
Inside were grocery receipts, an inhaler, and a bottle of antibiotics with three pills left.
“How much sooner?”
The doctor’s silence answered.
An hour later, Caroline woke fully.
Daniel stood at the end of the bed.
Noah slept in a chair beneath Martin’s coat.
Caroline studied Daniel’s face.
“You look older.”
He laughed once. It sounded broken.
“So do you.”
Her mouth trembled.
“I went to your funeral,” he said.
She covered her lips.
“Yours and his.”
“Daniel—”
“They told me the car went through the bridge rail. They said the river took you.”
“I know about the crash.”
“I spent four months in hospitals. Victor handled everything.”
Caroline turned her face toward the window.
“He told me you wanted us gone.”
Daniel didn’t move.
“He showed me papers. Your signature. He said you knew I’d found the foundation accounts.”
“What accounts?”
She looked back.
That question changed something in her expression.
“You really don’t know.”
“No.”
A nurse entered with a visitor card.
“Mr. Mercer? Your brother is downstairs.”
“No visitors,” Daniel said immediately.
The nurse hesitated.
“He’s here with a police officer.”
Caroline gripped the blanket.
Then Noah woke.
“Mom?”
She reached for him.
May you like
The nurse glanced at the card again.
“Your brother says the child has been reported missing.”
