Chương 2
The nurse asked Lily questions, checked her pupils, pulse, oxygen level, and breathing, then asked again whether she had swallowed anything.
Lily’s answer remained the same.
“I don’t think so.”
The nurse looked at Evelyn.
“We should take her down to the clinic.”
“Hospital?”
“Clinic first. We’ll call poison control and arrange transport if we need it. She looks stable, but with an unknown amount—”
“It’s one pill,” Margaret said.
Every head turned.
Margaret’s expression changed by less than an inch.
“I mean there appears to be one pill involved.”
Evelyn stood.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t.”
“You just said it.”
“I misspoke.”
Noah made a faint sound behind Evelyn.
A breath sucked through teeth.
She turned to him.
He was staring at the floor.
Daniel rubbed his mouth.
“Jesus Christ.”
The nurse’s gaze moved around the family. She had the carefully neutral face of somebody who had walked into expensive rooms before and learned that money did not make emergencies less ugly.
“Who owns the medication?”
Margaret lifted one hand.
“I do.”
“Do you know the name and dose?”
“Yes.”
She answered.
The nurse wrote it down.
“Is this bottle available?”
“I keep the prescription container in my suite.”
“We’ll need it.”
Margaret nodded.
“I’ll have someone bring it.”
“No,” Evelyn said.
Margaret looked at her.
“No staff touches anything.”
“Evelyn.”
“No one goes into your room until we know what happened.”
Daniel looked at her. “That might be a little—”
“No.”
The word came out flatter than she intended.
She looked at Noah.
He had not moved.
“Noah, you’re coming with us.”
His eyes filled immediately.
Evelyn’s anger cracked around the edges.
She held out her hand.
He stared at it.
“You’re not in trouble right now,” she said.
Daniel gave her a sharp look at the phrase right now.
Evelyn ignored him.
Noah came to her.
His fingers were cold.
They left the pavilion through the enclosed walkway connecting it to the main lodge. A bellman in a red resort jacket pretended not to watch them pass. Two couples near the lobby fireplace did not pretend at all.
Evelyn hated them for looking.
A moment later she hated herself for caring.
Lily might have swallowed something dangerous, and part of Evelyn was still aware that she was walking through a five-star lobby in a cream silk dress with no coat, one child crying, another looking guilty, her husband furious, and her mother-in-law following like the queen of a small country that had suffered an administrative inconvenience.
That awareness disgusted her.
It also felt very Carter.
The family had been at the resort for less than twenty-four hours, celebrating Margaret’s sixty-sixth birthday at a property she had owned with her late husband for almost thirty years. It was the sort of place where the toilet paper had folds in the first sheet and hotel staff knew the guests’ dogs by name.
Evelyn had always found it beautiful.
She had never found it relaxing.
At the clinic, Lily sat on an exam table beneath a paper blanket, still wearing her formal dress. Daniel paced. Margaret sat in the only upholstered chair. Noah stood beside the wall until Evelyn pulled over a stool for him.
The nurse spoke with poison control while a physician drove in from another building on the property.
Margaret asked twice whether anyone wanted tea.
The second time Daniel snapped.
“Nobody wants tea, Mom.”
Margaret looked at him.
“You don’t need to bark.”
“My daughter had your sleeping pill in her mouth.”
“And Lily needs calm adults around her.”
“You’re not calm. You’re weird.”
“No,” Margaret said. “I am sixty-six years old and have learned that panic is rarely useful.”
Daniel laughed once without humor.
“Convenient.”
Evelyn sat beside Noah.
He had begun picking at the skin next to his thumbnail.
She put her hand over his.
“Don’t.”
He tucked both hands between his knees.
“Noah.”
Nothing.
“Did you put the pill in Lily’s cake?”
Daniel stopped pacing.
Margaret looked up.
Lily turned her head.
Evelyn immediately regretted asking in front of everyone.
Noah’s throat worked.
“I want to go home.”
“We can talk somewhere else.”
“I want our house.”
“So do I.”
“Tonight.”
“The roads are closed.”
“I don’t care.”
Daniel came closer.
“Buddy, your mom asked you a question.”
Noah stared at his shoes.
“Did you put something in your sister’s food?”
No answer.
Daniel’s voice sharpened.
“Noah.”
“Stop,” Evelyn said.
“We need to know.”
“We do. Not like this.”
“Oh, sorry, what’s the correct tone when one kid drugs another?”
Noah’s head snapped up.
“I didn’t drug her!”
Lily startled.
The room went silent.
Noah’s face collapsed immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
Evelyn knelt in front of him.
“It’s okay. Just talk to me.”
“I didn’t want her to eat it.”
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
Noah pressed his lips together.
Margaret stood.
“I think this conversation should wait.”
Evelyn turned slowly.
“Why?”
“Because Lily is frightened, Noah is frightened, and everyone is making conclusions.”
“No one made a conclusion. Noah just told us he did something.”
“He said he did not intend to drug his sister.”
Daniel pointed at her.
“You need to stop helping.”
“I am not helping anyone.”
“You keep answering questions nobody asked you.”
Margaret’s cheeks colored.
It was the first visible crack in her composure.
The physician arrived before anyone could continue.
He examined Lily, reviewed the medication information, and explained that her immediate symptoms sounded more consistent with choking on a foreign object than the effects of the medication. Because no one could be certain whether there had been more than one pill, he wanted to observe her and monitor for drowsiness, breathing changes, confusion, or unusual behavior.
Evelyn almost cried from the relief of hearing a doctor say Lily looked well.
Almost.
Then he asked where the remaining medication was.
Margaret answered.
“In the pillbox.”
“Is that the original container?”
“No.”
“Can we get the bottle?”
Evelyn said, “Not yet.”
May you like
The physician looked between them.
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
