Chương 5
“Is she expected to survive?”
The physician paused before answering.
“She is stable right now.”
Right now.
Terrence wrote the words down though he did not need to.
The physician continued.
“We also found something you need to know.”
Terrence’s pen stopped.
“What?”
“There are older injection marks on the child’s upper thigh.”
Terrence looked at Maya.
The doctor said, “Not from today.”
“How old?”
“Different stages of healing.”
“Could they be routine medical treatment?”
“I can’t tell you that yet.”
Terrence pressed his thumb against the edge of the desk.
“Document them.”
“We are.”
“Her twin may have been exposed too.”
“We’re examining both children.”
There was movement on the line.
Then the doctor’s tone changed.
“Officer, Charlotte just told our nurse their mother has been asleep for two days.”
Terrence stood completely still.
“She said what?”
“She says her father told them their mother was sleeping somewhere else because she was sick.”
Maya was already opening the property-record database.
Terrence asked, “Did Charlotte say where?”
The doctor relayed the question.
Muffled voices traveled across the line.
A child answered in the background.
Then the doctor returned.
“She says the basement.”
Terrence did not answer for a second.
The doctor said his name again.
“I’m here.”
Maya was already calling the supervisor back.
Terrence lowered his voice.
“Keep both girls with staff and do not release them to either parent until child protection or law enforcement clears it.”
“We’ve already flagged the chart.”
“Good.”
He hung up and crossed to Maya.
She had the property record open.
“Single-family house,” she said.
“Finished basement, attached garage, no listed secondary unit.”
“The warrant?”
“Detective’s drafting it.”
Terrence grabbed his rain jacket.
Maya looked at him.
“You’re not going in without it.”
“No.”
“You have the face.”
“What face?”
“The face people get right before they do something that becomes an internal-affairs interview.”
He pulled the jacket on.
“I’m going to Bellweather Court.”
“So am I.”
The dispatcher came over the radio.
“Unit Twelve has visual on Sinclair vehicle.”
Terrence lifted his shoulder mic.
“Location?”
“Approaching Bellweather Court.”
“Any other occupants?”
“Negative from visual.”
“Do not engage unless exigency develops.”
The acknowledgment came back through static.
Terrence and Maya were halfway to the rear door when the hospital called again.
This time Charlotte was asking to speak to him.
Terrence took the call.
Her voice sounded smaller through the phone.
“Did you find Mommy?”
“Not yet.”
“She was in the basement when Daddy got mad.”
“When was that?”
“Yesterday.”
“What did you see?”
Charlotte breathed into the receiver.
“I saw her feet.”
Terrence stopped walking.
“Where were you?”
“On the stairs.”
“Was she awake?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she talk?”
“No.”
“Did your dad tell you not to go down there?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said Mommy took medicine because we made her upset.”
Terrence closed his eyes briefly.
Charlotte continued.
“He said if Delilah kept crying, Mommy might not wake up.”
Maya had stopped beside him.
Terrence wrote nothing.
He knew he would remember every word.
“Charlotte, is there a door at the bottom of the basement stairs?”
“Yes.”
“Locked?”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you know how it locks?”
“With the little silver thing.”
“A deadbolt?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does it need a key?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
There was a rustling sound.
Charlotte whispered, “Is Daddy there?”
“No.”
That was true for another few minutes.
“Can he hear me?”
“No.”
She exhaled.
“Good.”
“Charlotte, listen to me.”
“I am.”
“You do not need to tell me anything else right now.”
“I forgot something.”
“What?”
“He told me if I told, Aunt Beth would go to jail.”
Terrence looked at Maya.
“For what?”
“He said she steals medicine.”
“Does she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.”
Then Charlotte said, “I think he lies when he gets quiet.”
The line went silent.
Terrence asked, “What do you mean?”
“He gets loud when he’s mad.”
Another pause.
“He gets quiet when he already decided.”
The doctor took the phone back a moment later.
Terrence thanked him and ended the call.
Maya opened the rear door.
“Seven years old.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s been studying him.”
“Yeah.”
They drove separately.
The rain had weakened to a gray mist, but traffic remained clogged around the school district.
Terrence sat at a red light long enough to watch a teenager in the next lane eat fries from a paper bag and sing at the windshield.
The normality of it irritated him.
Then he felt guilty for being irritated.
The world did not owe him a pause because something terrible might be happening in a basement.
Dispatch updated them.
Douglas’s SUV had entered the driveway.
Unit Twelve had continued past.
No one had emerged from the house yet.
Terrence reached Bellweather Court six minutes later.
It was the kind of subdivision built in the late nineties, with wide lawns, shallow porches, and mailboxes shaped like small houses.
Douglas’s SUV sat in the driveway.
The garage door was closed.
Maya parked two houses away.
Two additional units staged around the corner.
Terrence remained inside his cruiser.
He hated waiting.
He hated how waiting made every second feel like negligence.
The detective supervisor called.
“Judge is reviewing the affidavit.”
“What’s the timing?”
“I don’t have one.”
“Possible unconscious adult inside.”
“I know.”
“Possible evidence destruction.”
“I know.”
Terrence gripped the steering wheel.
The supervisor said, “If you get objective signs of immediate danger, act on them.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You wait.”
The call ended.
Maya approached his window.
He lowered it.
“He’s moving.”
Terrence looked toward the house.
A curtain shifted upstairs.
Then the garage door began to rise.
Douglas appeared inside carrying a black trash bag.
Maya said, “That’s interesting.”
He placed the bag in a large wheeled bin.
Then he returned to the garage.
Terrence spoke into the radio.
“Documenting suspected evidence disposal.”
The officer positioned down the street confirmed he had video.
Douglas came back with a second bag.
May you like
Then a third.
On the third trip, he looked directly toward Terrence’s cruiser.
