Chapter 9 - The Man in the Hallway —
“I never evaluated you,” Dr. Mercer said when I called her. “Neither did anyone named in that letter at this hospital. We’re flagging it as disputed and preserving the source.”
I gripped the phone. “Could someone use it against me?”
“A fabricated letter doesn’t become true because it’s in a chart,” June said from beside me. “We’ll challenge it wherever they try to use it.”
Wherever. I heard the word she hadn’t said.
Custody.
I put my hand over my stomach. Yesterday, I had been trying to leave a marriage. Now somebody was laying paperwork around my child like a fence.
Dorian sat across from me. “I would never use that against you.”
“You used other lies against me without letting me see them.”
He looked down. “You’re right.”
That afternoon, Adrian called from a number I didn’t recognize.
“Alina. There’s been a terrible misunderstanding.”
June gestured for me to keep him talking while she contacted Ortiz.
“Then clear it up.”
“Not over the phone. Victor has made commitments I knew nothing about.”
“You signed my records.”
“I can explain the entries. Meet me downstairs. Ten minutes. No Dorian.”
I went cold. “How do you know where I am?”
He didn’t answer.
“Bring the original consent form,” I said.
“Come alone.”
The call ended.
I did not go downstairs alone. Ortiz was close enough to come to the hotel, and security agreed to watch the public entrance. Dorian stayed upstairs because I asked him to. June came with me.
Adrian appeared near the meeting-room corridor in a navy coat, carrying a leather folder. He looked smaller without the clinic around him.
“Your lawyer?” He gave June a thin smile. “This doesn’t need to be adversarial.”
“Then you won’t mind explaining,” she said.
He tried to place the folder in my hands. She took it instead.
Inside was a new declaration stating that the disputed consultation had occurred, that I had misunderstood its purpose, and that any conflicting statements arose from distress.
“Sign this,” Adrian said quietly, “and I can stop the story before it reaches people who decide whether you’re fit to raise a child.”
Ortiz stepped into the corridor.
“Dr. Adrian Bell?”
His eyes moved from her badge to June’s phone, which she had used to take notes.
May you like
Then he looked at me.
“You have no idea what your husband signed.”
