Chương 8
Ortiz looked at Daniel.
“You need to stay here.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I need to see what they're doing.”
“You need to not be seen reacting to them.”
“They already know I'm upset.”
“They think you're upset because your dead brother woke up.”
Daniel's mouth tightened.
“Fair.”
Ortiz pulled the fallen chair upright.
“Sit down.”
Daniel actually did.
It might have been the first time in forty years someone had ordered my brother into a chair and succeeded.
A nurse came in with a small sealed bag containing my personal effects from the funeral home.
Rachel read the label.
“Watch, ring, cuff links, wallet.”
Ortiz said, “Don't open that.”
The nurse stopped.
“It was transferred with the patient.”
“I understand.”
“I need to inventory.”
“Can you do it without breaking the seal?”
She frowned.
“Not properly.”
“Then wait for hospital legal.”
Rachel asked, “Why?”
Ortiz looked at me before answering.
“Because we don't know what might matter yet.”
My watch.
My ring.
The suit Olivia had chosen.
Anything touched by her hands or Mason's.
I had never thought of my belongings as evidence.
Another nurse appeared at the doorway.
“Dr. Patel?”
He stepped aside.
She spoke quietly, but I caught enough.
“Preliminary tox screen is strange.”
“What do you mean, strange?”
“Routine panel is mostly negative.”
“Mostly?”
“There is something suppressive we can't identify on the standard screen.”
Dr. Patel's voice sharpened.
“Send comprehensive toxicology.”
“Already did.”
“Preserve the initial blood.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Multiple tubes.”
“Good.”
The nurse hesitated.
“There’s another issue.”
“What?”
“His potassium and glucose are abnormal, but not enough to explain this degree of paralysis.”
“Renal?”
“Not severely.”
“Liver?”
“Elevated, but modest.”
“Any cholinergic pattern?”
“No obvious one.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Call poison control directly.”
“Done.”
He looked almost annoyed that everyone was already doing what he wanted.
Then he remembered I could hear him.
“Ethan, the common tox screen isn't giving us a simple answer.”
Once.
“That does not mean we won't find one.”
Once.
“We have samples.”
Once.
“And you're improving.”
I tried my thumb.
Nothing.
My middle finger.
Nothing.
Then my right foot.
A faint contraction pulled somewhere near the ankle.
Rachel saw the blanket shift.
“Do that again.”
I tried.
The movement repeated.
“Dr. Patel.”
He came closer.
“What moved?”
“Right foot.”
He touched my ankle.
“Ethan, again.”
I concentrated until my whole body seemed to narrow around the instruction.
The foot twitched.
Dr. Patel let out a breath.
“Good.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“That's good?”
“Yes.”
“How good?”
“It suggests the paralysis may be receding.”
“How long?”
“We don't know.”
“Hours?”
“I don't know.”
“Days?”
“Daniel.”
“I’m asking.”
“And I am answering.”
Daniel leaned back.
His jaw worked.
“Sorry.”
Dr. Patel softened slightly.
“Your brother is doing better than he was thirty minutes ago.”
That was enough to quiet him.
A phone rang somewhere outside.
Then another.
The hospital had begun moving around the fact that a patient declared dead that morning was now alive in a restricted room.
I imagined administrators calling lawyers.
Lawyers calling insurers.
Someone pulling records.
Someone checking signatures.
Someone wondering which policy manual contained the section for accidental funeral.
The absurdity made the terror feel briefly smaller.
Ortiz stepped into the hallway to take a call.
Daniel watched him leave.
Then he moved his chair closer.
“I'm going to tell you something, and you're going to get mad.”
I moved once.
“Technically, you don't know what I'm telling you yet.”
I moved once again.
He almost smiled.
“Okay.”
He lowered his voice.
“I looked at your phone.”
My attention sharpened.
“Not today.”
He lifted both hands.
“After Christmas.”
I tried to move my finger in something that might communicate keep talking.
Daniel understood.
“You left it on Mom's kitchen counter.”
He looked ashamed now.
“I saw a message from Mason.”
The room seemed to narrow.
“What did it say?” Dr. Patel asked from across the bed.
Daniel glanced at him.
“I thought you were pretending not to listen.”
“I gave up.”
Daniel looked back at me.
“It said, ‘She doesn't know I told you.’”
I searched my memory.
Nothing.
No such message.
Daniel continued.
“I shouldn't have opened it.”
He rubbed his palms together.
“I thought maybe he was talking about Olivia.”
Ortiz returned just in time to hear her name.
“Talking about Olivia how?”
Daniel looked at him.
“I didn't know.”
“Did you read the thread?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because unlike what everyone in this room apparently thinks, I do occasionally have boundaries.”
Ortiz waited.
Daniel sighed.
“I opened the message preview.”
“Was it still there when you gave the phone back?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Ethan see you?”
“No.”
“Did you mention it later?”
“No.”
I moved twice.
Daniel stared at me.
“You never saw it?”
Twice.
His face changed.
“It was deleted.”
Ortiz said, “Possibly.”
“It was deleted.”
“Possibly.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Mason sent a message to my brother that my brother never saw.”
Ortiz asked me, “Did Mason ever warn you about Olivia?”
I moved twice.
“Did he ever tell you something about her that he wanted kept secret?”
Twice.
Daniel said, “Then what the hell was that message?”
Ortiz's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
“Maybe we can ask him.”
Daniel stood immediately.
Ortiz gave him one look.
Daniel sat again.
“What?”
Ortiz typed something before answering.
“Security says Reed is trying to leave.”
Daniel's knee began bouncing.
“Let him.”
“No.”
“Follow him.”
“We will.”
“Then why stop him?”
“Because I didn't say we were stopping him.”
Ortiz pocketed the phone.
“He's free to leave.”
Daniel stared.
“You're letting him walk out?”
“Unless I have lawful grounds to do otherwise, yes.”
“He's a murder suspect.”
Ortiz looked toward me.
“Attempted murder, if that is ultimately what this is.”
Daniel muttered something under his breath.
Ortiz continued.
“And suspicion is not a magic word that erases procedure.”
My finger moved once.
Ortiz noticed.
“Thank you.”
Daniel glared at me.
“Traitor.”
May you like
The door opened again.
Karen Bell returned with another man in a navy suit carrying a tablet.
