Chương 3
Then he lunged for the phone.
Teresa shoved his arm aside.
“Do not touch her.”
Daniel’s shoulder hit the bedside table hard enough to knock over the plastic water pitcher.
It struck the floor, the lid popped loose, and cold water spread across the tile.
“Claire.”
I opened my eyes.
There was no point pretending anymore.
His expression changed again when he saw me looking back at him.
Not guilt.
Not even fear at first.
Recognition.
He understood exactly how long I might have been awake.
“How much did you hear?” he asked.
Teresa stepped between us.
“Back up.”
Daniel ignored her.
“Claire, listen to me.”
I reached for my phone.
He moved faster.
Teresa caught his forearm with both hands, but Daniel twisted away and slapped the phone from the mattress.
It skidded under the chair beside the window.
“Stop.”
My own voice startled me.
Daniel froze.
For years, our arguments had ended when one of us lowered our voice.
Usually me.
Daniel hated being shouted at, but he hated quiet certainty more.
I pushed myself upright against the pillows.
The monitor beside me changed rhythm as my heart rate climbed.
“You need to leave.”
His mouth opened.
The suite door swung inward before he could answer.
A broad woman in navy scrubs entered first, followed by a hospital security officer.
I assumed she was Paula because Teresa exhaled as soon as she saw her.
“What’s happening?” Paula asked.
Daniel turned toward her with astonishing speed.
“My wife is confused.”
I almost laughed.
It came out as a rough breath.
“She’s heavily pregnant, she’s exhausted, and she’s saying things that don’t make sense.”
Paula looked at me rather than him.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“Claire Bennett Mercer.”
Daniel flinched at the use of Bennett.
I had kept my family name legally after marriage, though socially I rarely used it.
That had always irritated him more than he admitted.
“I’m not confused.”
“Claire.”
“Do not say my name.”
The security officer shifted closer to Daniel.
I pointed toward my phone beneath the chair.
“There’s a recording on that device of my husband offering Dr. Hale five hundred thousand dollars to cause my death during delivery.”
Nobody moved.
The statement sounded obscene in the clean hospital room.
Paula’s face became very still.
Daniel stared at me.
Then he laughed.
It was a short, incredulous sound.
“That is not what happened.”
“What happened?” Paula asked.
He turned to her.
“My wife has been under enormous stress.”
“You said she was asleep.”
“She was.”
“You also said she was confused.”
“She just woke up.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Daniel dragged a hand over his mouth.
I knew that gesture.
He used it whenever he needed several seconds to construct a version of reality he could live inside.
“Marcus and I were discussing a financial matter.”
“Marcus Hale?” Paula asked.
“Yes.”
“What financial matter involves the patient’s death?”
“It didn’t.”
His answer came too quickly.
Paula looked at the security officer.
“Get the phone.”
Daniel stepped in front of him.
“That contains private marital communications.”
The officer’s eyebrows rose.
“Sir, move.”
“You cannot seize my wife’s property because of a misunderstanding.”
“It’s my property,” I said.
Daniel glanced at me.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
That sentence finally broke something loose inside me.
“For seven years, I thought that was what you were doing.”
His jaw tightened.
“Claire, you don’t know what you heard.”
“I heard you name the amount.”
Silence.
“I heard you say half tomorrow and the rest after my funeral.”
Teresa looked down.
Daniel’s eyes flicked toward her.
I saw the calculation again.
Witness.
Risk.
Damage.
He took one step toward the door.
The security officer blocked him.
“Stay where you are.”
“I’m going to find Dr. Hale.”
“No, you’re not.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Maybe,” the officer said.
“Then you can explain it to police when they arrive.”
Daniel looked at me.
The anger finally surfaced.
It was quieter than I expected.
“You called the police on me.”
“My brother did.”
“You sent him the recording.”
“Yes.”
His lips pressed together.
That answer frightened him.
The copy on my phone was no longer the important one.
Whatever he did in this room, he could not erase what Ethan had.
Daniel glanced toward the hallway.
Paula noticed.
“Security is covering the elevators and stairwell.”
He gave her a cold look.
“I’m not a criminal.”
Nobody answered.
A knock sounded at the suite door.
The security officer opened it only a few inches.
A second hospital employee murmured something I could not hear.
Paula stepped into the hall, listened, then came back.
Her face had hardened.
“Dr. Hale is not at the nurses’ station.”
Daniel’s eyes dropped.
My stomach tightened.
“Where is he?”
“We’re locating him.”
Teresa retrieved my phone and handed it to me.
The screen had cracked across one corner.
Ethan had sent four messages.
The newest read, I’m with the officers downstairs.
I typed, Come up when police say.
Before I could send it, a contraction rolled across my lower abdomen.
At first, I mistook it for the tightening I had felt intermittently for two weeks.
Then the pressure sharpened.
I gripped the bed rail.
Teresa was beside me immediately.
“What is it?”
“Contraction.”
“How strong?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay.”
She looked at the monitor.
“Breathe normally.”
Daniel stepped toward the bed.
“Is she in labor?”
The security officer blocked him again.
“I’m her husband.”
“You are also the person she just accused of arranging her murder.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
The words sounded different coming from another man.
More official.
More real.
Teresa put one hand against my abdomen.
“Tell me when it eases.”
I closed my eyes.
The contraction passed slowly.
When I opened them, Daniel was watching me with something that might have been genuine concern.
That was almost worse than the anger.
May you like
Human beings were apparently capable of wanting someone dead and still worrying when they saw that person in pain.
“How far apart have they been?” Teresa asked.
