Chương 9
Hale nodded.
Five minutes later she changed her mind.
“Show me all of it.”
There were no more references to her name.
That almost disappointed her.
She had expected to find a plan containing every detail of her life.
Instead, she was a target of convenience.
Same floor.
Healthy boy.
Exhausted mother.
Husband gone temporarily.
No local family expected until morning.
The fact that randomness had helped choose Noah disturbed her more than being specially selected would have.
At 1:20 p.m., the preliminary genetic comparison confirmed what Lauren already believed but had needed proved.
Noah was biologically consistent with both Lauren and Evan.
The physician explained carefully that the hospital laboratory was not performing a forensic paternity evaluation, but the immediate testing supported identity.
Lauren heard almost none of the qualifiers.
She pressed both hands to her face.
Evan leaned over the bassinet.
“Hey,” he whispered to Noah. “You’re stuck with us.”
Lauren laughed into her hands.
The physician smiled.
For three minutes, the room became only a room again.
A tired mother.
A relieved father.
A sleeping infant.
Then Detective Hale’s phone buzzed.
Pierce had disappeared.
His office suite, leased under a consulting company, was empty.
His listed home address belonged to a condominium rented through another company.
His car had been found at an airport garage.
No one knew whether he had boarded a flight.
The detectives would not speculate.
Lauren appreciated that less this time.
She wanted speculation.
She wanted certainty.
She wanted someone to say they would catch him before sunset.
Instead, Hale said, “We’re working it.”
Evan muttered, “That means nothing.”
“It means exactly what I said.”
Lauren looked at Hale.
“Did Margaret warn him?”
“We don’t know.”
“Do you believe her?”
“My beliefs aren’t useful yet.”
“Must be nice.”
He accepted that.
At two in the afternoon, Lauren’s obstetrician told her she could remain another night.
Lauren had originally planned to go home that evening.
Now the thought of walking through the hospital lobby with Noah made her nauseated.
“What if someone follows us?”
Evan asked whether they could leave through a private exit.
Dennis began discussing security arrangements.
Lauren listened for thirty seconds.
Then she said, “Stop.”
Everyone stopped.
She looked at Evan.
“If we leave through a loading dock like criminals, I’m going to feel like this follows us forever.”
Evan rubbed his forehead.
“I don’t care how it feels. I care whether we’re safe.”
“So do I.”
“Then stay.”
“I said I was staying.”
“I mean tomorrow. Stay until they catch him.”
“They might not catch him tomorrow.”
“Then two days.”
“They aren’t going to keep me in maternity indefinitely because somebody is awful.”
Evan’s jaw tightened.
“Why are you arguing with me?”
Lauren stared at him.
“Because I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
“I know.”
He sat down.
The argument ended badly, which felt almost comforting.
Neither of them won.
At 3:10, Claire Kerr sent a note.
Not a text.
A folded piece of hospital stationery carried by Andrea the social worker.
Lauren almost refused to touch it.
Then she unfolded it.
Mrs. Mitchell,
I do not know what my grandmother did.
I know enough to know you may never want to see me.
I need you to know I did not ask for your baby.
I woke up asking for mine.
His name is Henry.
I am sorry that your first day with your son has anything to do with me.
Claire
Lauren read it twice.
Then handed it to Evan.
He read it once.
“You believe her?”
“I don’t know.”
He gave the paper back.
“What do you want to do?”
“Nothing.”
So they did nothing.
For nearly an hour.
Lauren slept with Noah in the bassinet beside her and Evan’s hand resting across the gap between bed and rail.
When she woke, the late-afternoon light had changed color on the wall.
For a confused second she expected everything to be normal.
Then she saw Dennis outside the door.
Memory returned all at once.
She lay still.
Evan was asleep in the chair, mouth slightly open.
Noah made tiny squeaking breaths.
Lauren listened to them.
She had once imagined maternity leave as a soft blur of daytime television, laundry, casseroles from neighbors, and exhaustion that would become funny later.
She wondered what ordinary new motherhood would have felt like.
Then she felt guilty for wondering.
Noah was here.
Another mother’s baby was upstairs fighting to stay alive.
Ordinary had become an expensive fantasy.
At 5:02, Lauren asked to see Claire.
Evan stared at her.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“I know.”
“You don’t owe her.”
“I know.”
He sighed.
“You saying ‘I know’ is becoming annoying.”
“I know.”
That got a reluctant smile.
Claire could not leave her room yet, so Lauren went to her.
She made Evan stay with Noah.
The decision felt physically wrong.
The hallway between rooms was perhaps forty yards.
Lauren had crossed longer grocery store aisles.
Still, every step away from Noah tightened something in her chest.
Andrea walked beside her.
“You can turn around.”
“I know.”
Claire’s room was quieter than Lauren expected.
No flowers.
No family crowd.
A television mounted on the wall with the sound off.
Claire Kerr lay pale against white pillows, dark hair tangled around her face. She was thinner than Lauren had imagined Margaret’s granddaughter would be, though Lauren had no reason for imagining anything.
An empty bassinet stood beside the window.
Lauren saw it first.
Claire noticed.
“They brought that in this morning.”
Her voice was rough.
“I asked them to take it out. Then I asked them not to.”
Lauren did not know what to say.
Claire gestured toward a chair.
Lauren sat carefully.
For several seconds neither woman spoke.
A housekeeping employee pushed a mop bucket past the open door.
The wheels squeaked.
Claire finally said, “My grandmother says stupid things when she’s afraid.”
Lauren looked at her.
“That was your opening?”
May you like
Claire covered her eyes.
“No. God. That sounded like I’m defending her.”
