Chương 7
“Not yet.”
“Do you know who David Kessler is?”
“We found an attorney by that name. He says he has never represented Eleanor Hart and was in Nashville yesterday.”
“So fake name.”
“Possibly.”
“Eleanor?”
“We’ve spoken with counsel representing her.”
“Of course she has counsel.”
Brooks did not smile.
“Her attorney says Mrs. Hart has no knowledge of an unlawful removal and believed the child was placed in temporary care pursuant to family authorization.”
“She knows where Sophie is.”
“We believe she knows more than she’s told us.”
“Arrest her.”
“We need evidence sufficient to do that.”
“My sister saw her take my baby.”
“Your sister also accepted thirty thousand dollars from her and signed documents she didn’t read.”
Claire looked at Brooks.
“That makes Margaret stupid. It doesn’t make her blind.”
“No. But it affects how a prosecutor, judge, defense attorney, and jury may evaluate her statement.”
Claire hated the answer because she understood it.
“What about Hawthorne?”
“Detectives are there now.”
“And?”
“They are preserving records.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not going to give you investigative details while people are still being interviewed.”
Claire looked away.
Brooks stood.
Then she paused.
“One thing.”
Claire looked back.
“We confirmed a newborn matching the sex and approximate birth time you described was present at Hawthorne.”
Claire gripped the blanket.
Brooks continued carefully.
“The infant log has irregularities. That is all I can tell you tonight.”
“Was she healthy?”
“The last reliable documentation we have indicates she was stable.”
Last reliable documentation.
Claire repeated the phrase in her head until it felt like a language exercise.
“What time?”
Brooks hesitated.
“Three thirty-six this morning.”
Claire looked at the clock.
Almost eighteen hours.
She wondered how many times Sophie had eaten.
Whether she cried before eating or after.
Whether whoever held her supported the back of her head correctly.
Whether she had been given the name Sophie by anyone besides Claire.
“Find her.”
Brooks nodded once.
“That’s the job.”
After midnight, the hospital became both quieter and noisier.
Fewer voices.
More machines.
The ventilation seemed louder.
Cart wheels traveled longer distances.
A monitor somewhere across the corridor alarmed every twenty minutes and then stopped.
Claire did not sleep.
At one-thirteen, Margaret appeared in the doorway.
No security officer stood with her.
Claire stared.
“Are you allowed in here?”
“I asked.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No one told me I couldn’t.”
Margaret had taken off the cardigan.
Under the olive shirt, her shoulders looked smaller.
Claire said nothing.
Margaret moved to the chair.
“Don’t sit.”
Margaret stopped.
“I can stand.”
“What do you want?”
“To tell you something before you hear it from somebody else.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“I found your phone.”
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“Where?”
“My car.”
Claire stared at her.
“It was under the passenger seat. I don’t know how it got there.”
“Eleanor.”
“Probably.”
“Did police take it?”
“Yes.”
“Was it wiped?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire looked at the window.
Margaret shifted her weight.
“There’s something else.”
“Of course there is.”
“A message was sent from your phone at three fifty-two.”
“To who?”
“Eleanor.”
Claire looked back.
“What did it say?”
Margaret’s eyes were wet.
“‘I can’t do this. Take her.’”
Claire felt something strange happen to her sense of distance. Margaret seemed suddenly farther away though she had not moved.
“I didn’t send that.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“You thought I might abandon her before she was born.”
“I thought you were scared.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Margaret flinched.
Claire reached for the water pitcher and poured badly, splashing water on the rolling table.
Margaret instinctively stepped forward with a towel.
Claire lifted one hand.
“Don’t.”
Margaret stopped.
Claire wiped it herself with a tissue.
Neither spoke until the table was dry.
Then Margaret said, “Peter called me today.”
Claire looked up.
“Peter?”
“He saw my name on a bank fraud inquiry. I guess his old business account got flagged when detectives traced the transfer.”
“What did he want?”
“To ask if I was okay.”
Claire let out a surprised laugh.
Margaret did too.
For a moment they sounded like sisters again.
It ended quickly.
Claire set the wet tissue on the tray.
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Margaret nodded.
“I deserve that.”
“Stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Agreeing with me like you’re helping.”
Margaret’s mouth closed.
Claire looked at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the debt?”
“Pride.”
“That simple?”
“Mostly.”
“You told me when you had hemorrhoids.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“They were temporary.”
Claire almost laughed again.
She hated that too.
Margaret leaned against the wall.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life being the person who has things handled.”
“You made me depend on that.”
“I know.”
“And then when you didn’t have things handled, you lied.”
“Yes.”
“And then you decided I was the one who couldn’t handle being a mother.”
Margaret looked at the floor.
“That’s not what I decided.”
“It’s what you acted like.”
A long silence.
Margaret said, “You’re right.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I said stop agreeing.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Neither do I.”
That was the first honest thing between them that did not feel useful.
Margaret left at two.
Claire slept for forty minutes.
At three-fifteen Daniel woke her because her blood pressure had dropped.
Nothing catastrophic.
Fluids.
Another blood draw.
Dr. Patel returned looking tired enough to be a normal person rather than a physician.
Claire asked whether stress could make her bleed more.
Dr. Patel said many things could affect recovery and suggested Claire concentrate on the things they could measure.
“Doctors love measurable things.”
“Yes.”
“People would be easier if they had lab values.”
“Much.”
Claire looked at her.
“Do you have kids?”
Dr. Patel paused.
“One.”
“How old?”
“Four.”
“Do you ever look at them and not know what to do?”
“Frequently.”
The answer eased something in Claire.
Not much.
Enough to notice.
May you like
By morning, reporters had not appeared.
Claire was surprised by that.
