Chương 2
Emma reached for her phone on the counter.
It was gone.
“My phone.”
Rachel swallowed. “Your belongings are secured.”
“Get it.”
“We usually wait until—”
“Get my phone.”
Claire said, “Rachel.”
Something passed between them.
Rachel left.
Emma turned toward Mia. “What surgery did I have?”
Mia’s lips parted.
Claire answered for her. “You need to lie down.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
“Emma.”
“What surgery did I have?”
Mia’s eyes filled, though she did not cry.
“I assisted with recovery,” she said. “I wasn’t in the operating room.”
It sounded rehearsed.
Emma looked at Rachel’s empty place by the cabinets, then at Claire.
“Who was?”
Claire did not answer.
That was when Emma understood that the problem was larger than an unauthorized procedure.
She returned to the bed because her knees had begun shaking badly enough that standing had become humiliating. She sat without letting anyone help her.
The mirror was beside her.
She turned it facedown.
Five minutes later Rachel returned with a clear belongings bag containing Emma’s phone, wallet, engagement ring, and the small gold earrings she had removed before surgery.
Emma grabbed the phone.
Dead.
Of course.
Daniel had teased her that morning because she had arrived at the clinic with twelve percent battery.
“You own six chargers,” he had said.
“I own six locations where chargers used to be.”
He had kissed her forehead before the nurse came for her.
That memory arrived with such ordinary clarity that Emma nearly dropped the phone.
Daniel smiling.
Daniel holding her coat.
Daniel saying he would be there when she woke up.
“Where is he?”
Nobody needed to ask who she meant.
Rachel said, “He left.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“You checked me in.”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Emma held out the dead phone. “Charger.”
Mia found one in a drawer.
While the phone powered on, Emma reread the authorization form.
The signature was Daniel’s.
The date was yesterday.
That was impossible.
Yesterday evening Daniel had been home with her. They had eaten Thai food from cardboard containers while watching a documentary neither of them finished. He had gone upstairs around ten because he had an early conference call.
Emma had stayed on the couch reading.
At 10:47, he had texted from upstairs asking whether she wanted him to bring down her heating pad.
She had answered with a heart.
The authorization form said he had signed at 10:32 p.m.
Here.
At Morgan Aesthetic Institute.
Twenty-four minutes from their house.
Emma looked at the timestamp again.
“Did he sign this electronically?”
Claire said nothing.
“Rachel?”
Rachel’s face tightened. “I didn’t witness it.”
“Who did?”
“There should be a witness field.”
There was.
The name printed there was CLAIRE MORGAN, M.D.
Emma looked up.
Claire met her eyes.
“You witnessed Daniel signing this at ten thirty-two last night?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Emma stared at her.
Claire continued, “I witnessed his authorization.”
“That’s not what the form says.”
“No.”
For the first time, Claire appeared tired.
Emma’s phone lit up.
Thirty-seven missed calls.
Most were from her mother.
Six were from her younger sister, Sophie.
Three were from a number Emma did not recognize.
None were from Daniel.
There was one text from him, sent at 8:14 that morning, while Emma had been changing into the champagne recovery robe the clinic provided.
I love you. Whatever happens today, remember that.
Emma read it three times.
Her stomach tightened.
She called him.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
She opened location sharing.
Daniel’s location was unavailable.
“Where did he go?”
Claire looked at Mia and Rachel. “Both of you should leave.”
“No one leaves.”
Emma surprised herself with the authority in her voice.
Rachel stopped halfway toward the door.
Emma called Sophie.
Her sister answered before the first full ring.
“Emma?”
“I’m okay.”
Sophie began crying.
Emma closed her eyes.
“I’m okay,” she repeated, though she had no idea whether that was true.
“Oh my God. Mom said the clinic called and then Daniel called and nobody would tell us anything. Are you awake? Where are you?”
“At the clinic.”
“Daniel said you had complications.”
Emma looked at Claire.
“What complications?”
“He wouldn’t say. He said they had to change the surgical plan.”
The room seemed to contract around Emma.
“When did he call you?”
“Like an hour ago.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know. Emma, what happened?”
Emma looked down at the consent form.
“I don’t know yet.”
Claire said quietly, “You shouldn’t alarm your family until we understand—”
Sophie heard her.
“Who is that?”
“My surgeon.”
“Put her on.”
“No.”
Emma’s answer was immediate.
She did not want Claire controlling one more conversation.
“Sophie, listen to me. Come here. Bring Mom if she can handle it.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means don’t tell her everything until you get here.”
“Tell her what?”
Emma touched the bandage beneath her jaw.
Her fingers had started trembling again.
“That I’m awake.”
She ended the call.
Claire watched her place the phone on the bed.
“Your family coming here will complicate things.”
“Good.”
“Emma.”
“Complicate them.”
For the first time, Mia made a sound that might have been a breath trying not to become a laugh.
Claire glanced at her.
Mia looked down.
Emma noticed.
It was a tiny thing, almost nothing, but it told her something important.
Claire did not own everyone in the room.
Not completely.
Emma picked up the folder.
“I want copies of everything.”
“You’ll receive your medical records through the appropriate process.”
“I want them now.”
“There are privacy and documentation procedures.”
“They’re my records.”
“Some of the material in that folder is internal.”
Emma held up the authorization.
“This?”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
Emma photographed every page.
Rachel did not stop her.
Neither did Mia.
Claire watched.
When Emma reached the operative schedule, she found something she did not understand.
Two patient names appeared on a printed sheet.
EMMA HARPER.
ELENA VARGAS.
Both scheduled for Operating Room Two.
Emma at 7:30 a.m.
May you like
Elena at 10:15.
Beside Elena’s name was a handwritten note.
