Chương 4
“That’s the first one.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’ve had Braxton Hicks.”
“This felt different?”
“Yes.”
Paula moved to the wall phone.
“We need obstetrics coverage now.”
“Not Hale,” I said.
“No.”
She looked at Teresa.
“Call Dr. Patel.”
Daniel shook his head.
“This is insane.”
Paula covered the receiver with her hand.
“What is?”
“You’re changing her physician because she made an accusation nobody has verified.”
Teresa stared at him.
“Would you prefer we leave her under the care of the man she says discussed killing her?”
“She misunderstood.”
“So you heard the conversation too,” Paula said.
Daniel realized the mistake half a second too late.
“I was part of the conversation.”
“Then you can tell police what it meant.”
His face closed again.
The suite door opened wider.
Two uniformed officers entered with Ethan behind them.
I had never seen my brother look like that.
His skin was gray beneath the fluorescent light, and his hands were clenched so hard his knuckles looked polished.
He saw Daniel first.
The older officer put out an arm before Ethan could cross the room.
“Stay back.”
Ethan stopped.
He looked at me.
“Claire.”
“I’m okay.”
“You are not okay.”
“I know.”
His voice cracked on the next word.
“Baby?”
“She’s moving.”
Ethan shut his eyes briefly.
Daniel gave a humorless laugh.
“You brought him into this.”
Ethan turned.
The officer’s arm rose again.
“You should not talk to me right now,” Ethan said.
His voice was so calm that everyone in the room heard the threat inside it.
“Sir,” the officer warned.
“I’m standing here.”
“Keep doing that.”
The second officer approached my bed.
“I’m Officer Elena Ruiz.”
She was in her forties, with tired eyes and a rain spot darkening one shoulder of her uniform.
“I need to ask you a few questions, but first, do you feel safe with us here?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need immediate medical care before we speak?”
Another contraction began.
I gripped the rail again.
Teresa leaned toward the monitor.
“Yes,” she answered for me.
Ruiz stepped back without argument.
The contraction was stronger.
A hot band tightened across my abdomen and lower back.
I breathed through my nose.
Ethan came closer on the opposite side of the bed.
“Can I touch you?”
The question nearly undid me.
I nodded.
He took my hand.
His palm was cold.
“You always pick terrible times to make me drive across town,” he said.
I laughed once, then winced.
“I didn’t invite you.”
“You never do.”
The contraction passed.
The room seemed to exhale with me.
Then a man in light blue scrubs hurried through the doorway.
He introduced himself as Dr. Ravi Patel, though I recognized him from a prenatal consultation three weeks earlier.
He had explained breech positioning to Daniel using a folded napkin because Daniel claimed medical diagrams made him nauseous.
Patel looked at the officers, security, Ethan, Daniel, and finally me.
His expression did not ask for gossip.
“Claire, I’m taking over your care for now.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ve been told there’s a safety issue involving Dr. Hale.”
“Yes.”
“That’s enough for me at the moment.”
Daniel scoffed.
Patel looked at him.
“Are you the husband?”
“Yes.”
“You need to stay out of my way.”
“I want to know what’s happening.”
“You’ll know what she authorizes us to tell you.”
Daniel blinked.
The shift was small but devastating.
For most of the pregnancy, nurses and doctors had naturally included him.
He had attended appointments, asked questions, filled my water bottle, remembered the list of foods that gave me heartburn.
Now he was outside the circle.
Patel examined the monitor.
“How long was that contraction?”
“About fifty seconds,” Teresa said.
“And the first?”
“Forty-three.”
Patel nodded.
“Let’s see if there’s a pattern.”
Officer Ruiz waited near the foot of the bed.
The other officer spoke quietly with Paula and the security guard.
Daniel stood beside the wall, watched by everyone and included by no one.
Then Paula’s hospital phone rang.
She answered.
Her eyes moved immediately to Daniel.
“What do you mean, gone?”
The room went silent.
She listened.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Check the physician garage.”
She hung up.
“Hale left the hospital.”
Officer Ruiz straightened.
“When?”
“Less than ten minutes ago.”
Daniel looked toward the floor.
Ruiz saw it.
“So did you.”
He looked up sharply.
“So did I what?”
“You knew he would leave.”
“That’s absurd.”
“Maybe.”
She turned to the other officer.
“Get his full name and vehicle information from hospital security.”
Daniel stepped away from the wall.
“I am not being detained.”
Ruiz looked at him.
“Not yet.”
He reached into his jacket.
The security officer moved immediately.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Daniel froze.
“My phone.”
“Slowly.”
He pulled it out.
The screen illuminated in his hand.
A message preview appeared before he could turn it away.
I could not read all of it from the bed.
Officer Ruiz could.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Who is Vanessa?”
Daniel’s thumb moved toward the screen.
“Don’t.”
Ruiz’s voice sharpened.
He stopped.
“What did she send?” I asked.
Ruiz looked at me, then at Daniel.
Daniel said nothing.
The officer read the preview aloud.
“Marcus is panicking.”
The air seemed to leave the room.
Then Ruiz read the second line.
“He says Daniel promised nobody would know until tomorrow.”
Daniel’s face changed before anyone else in the room spoke.
The anger drained out of it and left something smaller behind.
Officer Ruiz held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
Daniel looked at the screen, then at her.
“No.”
The second officer stepped closer.
“Sir.”
“That is my property.”
Ruiz did not raise her voice.
“And you are standing in a hospital room where your wife has accused you of conspiring to kill her, while your phone is receiving messages that appear to reference the doctor she named.”
Daniel’s jaw worked once.
“You don’t have a warrant.”
“No one said we were searching it.”
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“You just read my private message.”
“It displayed on your lock screen in plain view.”
