Chương 2
Dana checked the floor.
Margaret said nothing.
Lauren’s pulse began pounding hard enough to make her vision twitch.
“My phone was right there.”
Dana turned toward the narrow cabinet by the sink, opened it, found only a plastic wash basin and two folded towels.
Margaret stepped backward.
Lauren saw it.
Just a small movement.
“Don’t,” Lauren said.
Margaret paused.
“Don’t what?”
“Leave.”
“I was told there was an identification issue. I came to ensure it was handled.”
“At six forty in the morning?”
“I keep early hours.”
“You keep early hours in maternity rooms?”
Margaret’s nostrils flared.
It was the first genuine crack Lauren had seen in her composure.
Dana moved to the wall phone.
Before she could lift the receiver, Margaret said, “Think carefully.”
Dana’s hand froze.
Lauren looked between them.
There it was again.
Not the behavior of a nurse and a board chair who had unexpectedly found themselves in the same crisis.
History lived in that pause.
Lauren felt something cold settle beneath her ribs.
“You know her.”
Dana picked up the phone.
Margaret said, “Dana.”
The nurse shut her eyes briefly.
Then she dialed.
“Security, maternity, room six fourteen. I need an officer here immediately.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
Dana hung up.
Lauren said, “What did you do?”
The nurse turned around.
Her eyes were wet, though no tears fell.
“I stopped it.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
Footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Dana looked toward them.
Margaret opened the door fully.
“Then I suggest,” she said quietly, “that everyone remember there are two infants involved before this becomes a performance.”
Lauren stared at her.
Two infants.
The words struck harder than the threat.
“Who is Kerr?”
Margaret said nothing.
“Who is Kerr?”
A hospital security officer appeared outside the room. He was perhaps fifty, broad-shouldered, with reading glasses clipped to the front of his uniform.
He slowed when he recognized Margaret.
That tiny hesitation told Lauren almost as much as Dana’s had.
“Ms. Vale.”
“Good morning, Dennis.”
The officer looked uncomfortable.
Dana said, “I need this room secured. Nobody removes the infant. Nobody enters unless Lauren approves it or patient safety requires it.”
Dennis looked at Margaret.
Lauren watched him make a decision.
It took too long.
Margaret noticed her watching.
“So this is where we are,” Lauren said.
Dennis’s face reddened.
“No, ma’am. I’m sorry. I’m trying to understand what—”
“My baby has somebody else’s ID bracelet hidden in his blanket, my phone is gone, my nurse says someone paid to switch him, and the chair of your board walked in demanding you bring her my son.”
Dennis stopped reaching for his radio.
His eyes went to Margaret.
She exhaled through her nose.
“That characterization is deliberately inflammatory.”
“It’s also what happened.”
Dana said, “Lock the unit.”
Margaret snapped her head toward her.
Dennis said, “I don’t have the authority to lock the whole unit based on—”
“You have a possible infant abduction.”
That changed him.
The uncertainty vanished.
He lifted his radio.
“Control, initiate restricted access on maternity, sixth floor. Possible infant security event.”
Static answered.
Then another voice.
“Copy.”
A second later, a soft electronic tone sounded throughout the corridor.
Lauren had heard the same tone the previous afternoon during a drill and barely noticed it.
Now every muscle in her body tightened.
Margaret looked at Dana with open anger.
“You have no idea what you’ve just started.”
Dana’s reply was quiet.
“I think I finally do.”
A nurse appeared at the doorway behind Dennis.
“What’s happening?”
Dennis turned.
“Stay at your station. Nobody leaves the unit with an infant until clearance.”
“What?”
“Just do it, please.”
Two rooms down, a baby began crying.
Another nurse walked into the corridor holding a cup of coffee and stared at the security light above the exit.
The world did not stop because Lauren’s son had almost been stolen.
Someone pushed a cart of breakfast trays around the far corner and swore softly when told to turn back.
A man in pajama pants came out of a room asking whether there was a fire.
Dennis radioed for another officer.
Lauren sat carefully on the edge of her bed because her legs had started shaking.
Noah slept through all of it.
She hated him for that for perhaps half a second.
The thought came from nowhere and vanished so fast it shocked her.
How could he sleep?
How could anybody sleep?
Then she looked down at his face and immediately hated herself instead.
Dana pulled a chair closer with her foot.
“You need to sit back.”
“I am sitting.”
“Back, Lauren.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do right now.”
Dana flinched.
Lauren saw it and was glad.
That frightened her too.
Margaret remained beside the doorway.
Dennis finally said, “Ms. Vale, I need you to step into the hall.”
“This is my hospital.”
“No, ma’am.”
The room went still.
Dennis’s ears turned bright red, but he continued.
“It’s a hospital where you serve on the board. Right now this is a patient room involved in a security incident.”
Margaret stared at him.
Lauren would remember later that this was the first moment the woman looked old.
Not weak.
Just unaccustomed to hearing no.
Margaret stepped outside.
Dennis positioned himself between her and the room.
Lauren let out a breath she had not realized she was holding.
Dana locked the door.
Then Lauren said, “Tell me who Kerr is.”
Dana took too long.
Lauren shifted Noah higher against her chest.
“Dana.”
“Claire Kerr.”
“Who is that?”
Dana rubbed both hands down the front of her scrubs as if drying them.
“She delivered here last night.”
“A boy?”
“Yes.”
Lauren looked toward the bassinet.
“Where is he?”
Dana’s face tightened.
“Neonatal intensive care.”
“Why?”
“I can’t discuss another patient’s medical information.”
Lauren almost laughed again.
“You were willing to tell me somebody bought my baby.”
May you like
“I’m still a nurse.”
“You stopped being only a nurse when you whispered in my ear.”
