Chương 4
“I can’t discuss internal review details.”
“Who reported it?”
“Mara,” Daniel warned.
She ignored him.
The administrator held the folder tighter.
“I can tell you one thing.”
“What?”
“The record was not discovered randomly.”
The room went still.
“What does that mean?” Mara asked.
The woman looked at the baby.
“It means someone requested the review.”
“Who?”
The administrator did not answer.
She only placed the folder on the table.
“We are trying to determine that now.”
After she left, Mara did not look at Daniel.
She looked at the folder.
At the photograph.
At her daughter sleeping peacefully in her arms.
Someone had opened this door.
Someone had wanted them to find what was behind it.
And for the first time, Mara wondered if Daniel was the person she should be afraid of.
Or if he was the person who had been afraid all along.
Mara stayed in the hospital bed long after the administrator left, unable to decide whether moving would make the room feel less dangerous or more real.
Daniel remained standing near the table, his hands hanging at his sides as if he was afraid to touch anything that belonged to their life together.
“Someone requested the review,” Mara said.
Daniel nodded slowly.
“I heard her.”
“Who would do that?”
“I don’t know.”
The answer landed differently this time.
Not because it surprised her.
Because she believed him.
That frightened her more.
Mara looked at the folder sitting between them.
“You need to open it.”
Daniel did not move.
“Mara.”
“Open it.”
His eyes moved toward the baby.
“She needs you to rest.”
“She needs me to know what is happening around her.”
Daniel took the folder.
The hospital logo was printed across the front, ordinary and harmless.
Mara hated ordinary things now.
A piece of paper.
A name.
A signature.
A record stored somewhere by people who had no idea what those things could destroy.
Daniel opened the folder carefully.
Inside were copies of documents, review notes, and a printed page from the hospital’s internal system.
He scanned the first page.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
He did not answer.
“Daniel.”
He handed her the paper.
Mara looked down.
The page showed a patient record from three years earlier.
Her name appeared near the top.
The date was visible.
The location was the same hospital.
The department was maternity.
Her eyes moved over the words until they stopped making sense.
“No.”
Daniel watched her.
“That’s what I said.”
“This isn’t possible.”
“I know.”
She looked up sharply.
He stopped himself.
For once, he did not repeat the phrase.
Mara looked back at the document.
The name was hers.
The date was three years ago.
The patient number was not familiar.
The details underneath were partially hidden because of privacy restrictions.
“This is fake.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Daniel sat down.
“The hospital thinks it might be a duplicate record.”
“Then why are the police involved?”
He looked at the floor.
“Because the record is connected to Rachel.”
Mara felt a cold pressure spread through her chest.
“How?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Her daughter.”
“The little girl in the picture?”
He nodded.
“Lily.”
Mara looked at the baby in her arms.
The similarity of the names felt impossible to ignore, even though she knew names were not evidence.
“Tell me what you think happened.”
Daniel leaned back in the chair.
“I don’t know what happened.”
“Try.”
He rubbed his face.
“I think Rachel believed something was wrong with Lily’s records.”
“And?”
“She thought someone changed something.”
“Someone?”
“I don’t know.”
Mara stared at him.
“You keep saying you don’t know.”
“Because I don’t.”
“Then why were you investigating?”
“Because Rachel contacted me after three years of silence and said she needed my help.”
“Why would she need your help?”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“Because she said Lily was taken from her.”
Mara froze.
“What?”
“She said she lost custody because of lies.”
“Did you believe her?”
Daniel looked away.
That was answer enough.
“You did.”
“I believed she was scared.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No.”
He looked back at her.
“I didn’t know what to believe.”
Mara lowered the paper.
“You were meeting with your ex-wife.”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“While I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
She laughed softly.
There was no humor in it.
“You met your ex-wife while I was carrying our child, and you never told me.”
“I was trying to confirm whether she was telling the truth.”
“And you decided I didn’t deserve to know?”
“I decided I didn’t want to bring fear into our home unless I knew there was something real.”
Mara looked at him.
“You don’t get to decide what fear I’m allowed to have.”
Daniel absorbed the words without defending himself.
That made her angrier.
She wanted him to fight.
She wanted him to explain himself.
His silence felt like another secret.
A nurse entered a few minutes later to check on the baby.
The interruption gave both of them a reason to stop talking.
The nurse adjusted the blanket and checked Lillian’s temperature.
“Everything looks good,” she said.
Mara almost smiled at the normal sentence.
Everything looks good.
A sentence people said when they only saw the surface.
The nurse left.
Daniel remained quiet.
Mara watched him.
“You should call Rachel.”
His head lifted.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“She’s part of this.”
“She’s the person who started this.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s telling the truth.”
“No.”
Mara looked at the photograph.
“But it also doesn’t mean she’s lying.”
Daniel seemed surprised by that.
Maybe because he expected anger toward Rachel.
Maybe because he expected Mara to choose a side.
She was too tired for sides.
She only wanted facts.
Daniel picked up his phone.
His thumb hovered over the screen.
“You have her number?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you do.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
Daniel looked hurt.
She regretted it immediately.
Not because it was unfair.
Because she knew it came from fear.
May you like
He called.
The phone rang several times.
