Chương 7
Because fear had been following Claire everywhere.
Fear of losing the baby.
Fear of being blamed.
Fear of someone finding out.
But fear of what?
I stood.
"Can I see him?"
Dana nodded.
"Of course."
The baby was asleep when I entered the room.
He looked impossibly small against the hospital blanket.
There was a tiny sensor attached to his foot.
A monitor beside him showed numbers I did not understand.
I stood near the bed but did not touch him.
Not because I did not want to.
Because after everything, I felt like I needed permission from the universe.
A nurse came in carrying a chart.
She smiled softly.
"You must be Rachel."
I nodded.
"He seems to know your voice."
The sentence surprised me.
"What?"
"When you came in, his heart rate changed."
I looked at the baby.
"He knows me?"
The nurse smiled.
"Babies know people who care for them."
I looked down.
The words hurt.
Because I had cared for him.
And I still missed something.
The nurse checked the monitor and left.
I stayed there for another minute.
Then I noticed the stuffed animal beside the chair.
A small gray elephant.
I recognized it.
Claire had bought it the first week I started helping.
She told me it was the first thing she bought after they approved the placement.
I picked it up.
Something felt wrong.
Not about the toy itself.
About the memory.
Claire had always said she bought it before the baby arrived.
But I remembered seeing the receipt.
I remembered because she had asked me to return it.
The store had sent the wrong color.
Gray instead of blue.
She had laughed and said she would keep the gray one because it looked "less cheerful."
It was such a strange thing to remember.
A useless detail.
Except now I wondered why I remembered it.
When I walked back into the hallway, Dana was waiting.
"Everything okay?"
I looked at the elephant in my hand.
"I need to ask you something."
"Okay."
"Was the baby's biological family allowed to visit before the court hearing?"
Dana looked surprised.
"Yes."
"How many times?"
She checked her notes.
"Three."
"Who was present?"
"The aunt was present for all three."
"The mother?"
Dana hesitated.
"Once."
"Why only once?"
"Because she was receiving treatment."
"What kind of treatment?"
Dana gave me a careful look.
"Substance recovery."
The information changed the shape of the story.
Not completely.
But enough.
The baby's mother was not a monster.
She was a teenager who had made mistakes.
The aunt was not someone stealing a child.
She was someone trying to help a family member recover.
And Claire had taken all of those complicated truths and turned them into a simple story where she was the only person fighting for him.
"Did Claire know about the treatment?"
"Yes."
"Did she know the aunt was trying to get custody temporarily?"
"Yes."
I closed my eyes.
The picture was becoming clearer.
Not a picture of someone evil.
A picture of someone losing control.
Dana lowered her voice.
"Rachel."
I looked at her.
"Before you found him, did anyone else have access to the home?"
I thought about it.
"Not that I know of."
"Think carefully."
I did.
Neighbors.
Delivery workers.
Family.
Friends.
Then I remembered something.
A small moment from four days earlier.
I had arrived at Claire’s house and found the back door unlocked.
I had mentioned it.
Claire had laughed.
She said Mark must have forgotten.
I had believed her.
"Claire's sister came over sometimes."
"Name?"
"Emily."
Dana wrote it down.
"Anyone else?"
I stared at the floor.
Then another memory surfaced.
A man’s voice.
Not in the house.
Outside.
I had been leaving with the baby after a walk.
Someone had stood near the mailbox.
I remembered because he had said Claire’s name.
Not loudly.
Not threateningly.
Just enough to make me look over.
I had assumed he was a neighbor.
"Rachel?"
I looked up.
"There was someone else."
Dana waited.
"I don't know who he was."
"What did he look like?"
I searched my memory.
A dark jacket.
A baseball cap.
A scar near his chin.
The details felt distant.
But one thing came back clearly.
The way he looked at the baby.
Not like someone seeing a child.
Like someone checking something that belonged to him.
"He said something."
"What?"
I swallowed.
"He said, 'She can't keep him forever.'"
Dana stopped writing.
"When did this happen?"
I looked toward the hospital room.
"Three days ago."
For the first time all morning, Dana looked genuinely concerned.
"Why didn't you report this?"
I opened my mouth.
Then closed it.
Because the answer was embarrassing.
Because I had heard a stranger say something strange and decided it was probably nothing.
Because ordinary people spent their lives ignoring small warnings until those warnings became impossible to ignore.
"I thought he was angry about the court case."
Dana looked at me.
"Maybe he was."
A phone rang in the hallway.
Dana checked the number.
Her expression changed.
"Excuse me."
She answered.
"Hello?"
She listened.
Then looked directly at me.
"What?"
Her face became pale.
"Are you sure?"
I stood.
"What happened?"
Dana ended the call slowly.
Then she looked at me.
"The police found someone who matches your description."
I waited.
"Where?"
She swallowed.
"Outside Claire's house."
My stomach dropped.
"Who?"
Dana held my gaze.
"They arrested Mark."
I stared at Dana, waiting for the sentence to change into something else.
A mistake.
A misunderstanding.
A different Mark.
But the name remained the same.
"They arrested Mark?"
Dana nodded slowly.
"Outside the residence."
"Why?"
She looked uncomfortable.
"I don't have all the details yet."
My first reaction was anger.
Not suspicion.
Not fear.
Anger.
Because my mind immediately went back to the night before.
Mark standing in that kitchen.
Mark looking horrified.
Mark calling the police.
Mark asking me when I started worrying about Claire.
It did not fit.
May you like
None of it fit.
"That doesn't make sense."
