Chương 9
Mom is confused and upset.
Do not take anything she says seriously.
Claire stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
She has memory problems.
Claire felt something almost like disgusted admiration.
He was fast again.
Already building the next version.
She took screenshots.
Then she sent them to Mara.
A third message arrived.
We need to handle this privately for Liam's sake.
Claire read that one twice.
This time she replied.
Do not contact me again except about immediate medical or safety matters concerning Liam.
She sent it before she could edit it into something angrier.
Then she blocked his calls but left text messages open.
When she returned to the exam room, Liam was sitting beside Mara with six stickers on his shirt and one on his knee.
He looked at Claire.
"Mommy."
She crossed the room.
He lifted both arms.
Claire picked him up.
Mara watched her face.
"What happened?"
Claire kissed Liam's temple.
"Marilyn says he was in there almost five hours."
Mara's expression emptied.
Claire saw the exact moment fury arrived.
Her sister stood.
"Five?"
Claire nodded.
Mara grabbed her own phone.
"I'm calling the police."
Claire caught her wrist.
"Wait."
Mara stared at her.
"Why?"
"Because the clinic is making a report."
"So?"
"So I need to think."
"Claire, what is there to think about?"
Liam stiffened at Mara's tone.
Claire lowered her voice.
"This."
She nodded toward him.
Mara looked at Liam.
Her face changed.
"Right."
She sat down.
"Sorry, buddy."
Liam examined the tiger sticker on his sleeve.
Claire held him closer.
She hated that she had stopped Mara.
She hated that she might be protecting Jeffrey.
She hated that every decision now seemed capable of becoming evidence against someone.
Dr. Patel returned with Denise and another woman carrying a folder.
"This is Rachel."
The woman introduced herself as the clinic social worker.
She sat near the door.
"I want to explain what happens next."
Claire took a breath.
Rachel spoke carefully.
The clinic would file a report.
Because Liam was medically stable, there was no reason to transfer him to the emergency department unless symptoms changed.
They wanted him hydrated, fed gently, bathed only if he tolerated it, and monitored for vomiting, unusual sleepiness, worsening abdominal pain, or other concerns.
A child protection investigator might contact Claire tonight.
Law enforcement could also become involved depending on what was reported and what the agency determined.
"Can he come home with me?"
Claire asked.
Rachel looked at her notes.
"Based on what you've told us, you are his mother and he is currently in your care."
"But it's Jeffrey's parenting time."
Rachel nodded.
"I can't give you legal advice about custody."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"But I can tell you we are documenting that the child was brought here from his father's home with concerns about confinement and neglect."
Mara leaned forward.
"So she takes him home."
Rachel looked at Claire, not Mara.
"I would not recommend returning him tonight to the environment you're describing."
Claire felt her lungs open for the first time in hours.
"Okay."
Rachel continued.
"Do you have a safe place to stay?"
"My house."
"Does his father have access?"
Claire thought of the spare key Jeffrey had returned after the divorce.
At least she had believed he returned it.
"I don't know."
Mara answered immediately.
"They're staying with me."
Claire looked at her.
Mara shrugged.
"My deadbolt works, and my neighbor thinks surveillance cameras are a personality."
Despite everything, Claire smiled.
Rachel wrote something down.
"That sounds reasonable."
Liam tugged Claire's sleeve.
"Mommy?"
"Yeah?"
"Dino."
Claire looked at Mara.
Mara already had her keys in her hand.
Claire shook her head.
"No."
"I can get him."
"Not alone."
Mara frowned.
"Then who?"
Claire looked down at Liam.
The green dinosaur had become absurdly important.
Maybe it always had been.
Not because it was evidence.
Not because it proved neglect.
Because it belonged to a four-year-old boy who had spent hours behind a door and still believed one small thing might be waiting for him in the trash.
Claire opened Marilyn's contact.
"She can get it."
Mara studied her.
"You trust her?"
Claire looked at the phone.
"No."
Then she looked at Liam.
"But I think she wants one chance to do something right."
Claire typed the message to Marilyn with one thumb while Liam rested against her shoulder.
Please find Dino in the outside trash and put him somewhere safe.
She stared at the sentence before sending it.
Then she added one more line.
Do not bring him here.
Marilyn replied less than a minute later.
Mara read the response over Claire's shoulder.
"That sounded ominously obedient."
Claire slipped the phone into her pocket.
"I don't know what anything sounds like anymore."
Rachel handed Claire a printed discharge sheet and a separate page listing the report number assigned by the clinic.
"You may get a call tonight."
Claire folded the papers into Liam's bag.
"If they ask to speak with him?"
"Let the investigator guide that."
Rachel glanced toward Liam.
"Try not to question him repeatedly yourself."
Claire nodded.
"I already asked too much."
"You were trying to understand what happened."
"I still asked."
Rachel did not rescue her from the discomfort.
"Then now you know to stop."
Claire appreciated that more than reassurance.
Dr. Patel came back long enough to tell Liam he could go home.
He looked at Claire.
"Your home?"
Mara answered before Claire could.
"My home tonight."
Liam considered this.
"Do you have cereal?"
Mara put a hand over her heart.
"I have three kinds."
"Chocolate?"
"One and a half kinds."
Claire looked at her.
"What does that even mean?"
"One normal box and the crushed remains of another."
Liam leaned back far enough to look at Mara.
"Crushed?"
"It had a difficult morning."
A tiny laugh escaped him.
Claire closed her eyes for half a second.
That sound nearly broke her more efficiently than his crying had.
May you like
They left the clinic just after five.
The daylight had softened, and the parking lot smelled faintly of hot asphalt.
