Chapter 2
Detective Ortiz ordered patrol units to surround the hospital.
Daniel stood outside Noah’s room, watching officers move through the corridor.
“You think she’ll come here?” he asked.
“She has already attacked your son and a police officer,” Ortiz said. “I’m not assuming anything.”
Claire sat beside Noah’s bed.
Machines surrounded him, filling the room with soft beeps and mechanical breaths.
His color had improved, but he had not awakened.
Daniel wanted to stay with him.
He also wanted to find Evelyn before she could hurt anyone else.
Ortiz seemed to read that conflict on his face.
“Stay with your family,” she said. “Let us do our job.”
“Your officer let her escape.”
The detective did not flinch.
“And I intend to find out how.”
Daniel looked through the glass.
Claire had placed one hand over Noah’s.
“She knew about the camera,” he said.
“She noticed where you were looking.”
“She knew about the backup too. That’s why she transferred the money at the same time. She wanted us distracted.”
“Did she have access to your passwords?”
“No.”
“Your devices?”
“My old laptop is still at the house.”
Ortiz made a note.
“Who else knows your banking information?”
“My wife.”
Claire looked up from inside the room, though she could not hear them.
“And?”
Daniel hesitated.
“My younger brother, Marcus, helped me set up the business account.”
“Where is Marcus tonight?”
“At Mom’s lake house, according to him.”
“According to him?”
“He sent me a message this afternoon.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
Marcus had written that he needed a quiet weekend away and would have no reception.
Ortiz read it twice.
“When was the last time you spoke to him?”
“Four days ago.”
“Does he get along with your mother?”
“He depends on her.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Daniel looked down the hall.
“He does whatever she asks.”
Ortiz called another officer and ordered a welfare check at the lake house.
Then she turned back to Daniel.
“What is Mercer Family Holdings?”
“My father created it twenty years ago. It owns three rental properties and part of our family construction company.”
“Who controls it?”
“My mother manages it, but Marcus and I each own a share.”
“Could your mother move money out of it?”
“Not without two signatures.”
“And yet she can receive money into it.”
“Yes.”
Ortiz’s gaze sharpened.
“Then perhaps the transfer wasn’t theft for spending. Perhaps she was trying to create a record.”
“A record of what?”
“That depends on what she planned to claim the money represented.”
Claire came out of Noah’s room.
“The doctor says his heart rhythm is improving.”
Daniel pulled her into his arms.
“He’s going to wake up,” Claire said, as if repeating it could make it certain.
“Yes.”
She saw Ortiz’s notes.
“What’s happening?”
Daniel told her about Marcus.
Claire’s expression tightened.
“Your brother was here yesterday.”
Daniel stared at her.
“He told me he was going to the lake on Wednesday.”
“He came to the house Thursday morning. He said he needed documents from your office.”
“What documents?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because he has a key, and because every time I question your family, they call me paranoid.”
Daniel looked away.
She was right.
For years, Evelyn had insulted Claire in ways that seemed small when described separately.
A misplaced invitation.
A cruel joke.
A holiday photograph taken while Claire was in the bathroom.
A family dinner where everyone had a seat except her.
Daniel had confronted his mother occasionally.
More often, he had told Claire to ignore it.
He had called Evelyn difficult instead of cruel.
Now his son was in intensive care because Daniel had mistaken tolerance for peace.
“I should have listened,” he said.
Claire’s eyes filled.
“You should have.”
The words struck harder than anger.
A nurse hurried toward them.
“Noah is waking up.”
They rushed inside.
Noah’s eyes opened slowly.
He looked confused by the tubes and monitors.
Then he saw Claire.
“Mommy.”
She bent over him, careful not to disturb the IV.
“I’m right here.”
Daniel stood on the other side of the bed.
“You’re safe, buddy.”
Noah’s lips trembled.
“Is Grandma gone?”
“Yes,” Daniel said.
It was not the full truth, but it was the truth Noah needed.
“She can’t make Mommy leave?”
“No one is taking your mother anywhere.”
Noah closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he whispered, “Uncle Marcus said she had to.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
“What did Uncle Marcus say?”
Noah looked toward the door.
“He came into the pantry when Grandma was putting medicine in the tea.”
Claire and Daniel exchanged a glance.
“Did he see her?” Claire asked.
Noah nodded.
“He said, ‘You said we were only scaring her.’ Grandma told him it was too late.”
Detective Ortiz stepped into the room.
“May I ask him something?”
Claire looked at Noah.
“Only if you feel strong enough.”
Noah nodded again.
Ortiz crouched so they were at eye level.
“What happened next?”
“Uncle Marcus got mad. Grandma told him Daddy would lose everything if he talked.”
“What did Uncle Marcus do?”
“He took the little black card out of the camera.”
“Did he leave?”
“No. Grandma told him to put something in Mommy’s purse.”
Claire’s face went white.
“My purse is at the house.”
Ortiz stood and called the search team.
“What did the thing look like?” Daniel asked.
“A tiny bottle. Like Grandma’s medicine.”
Claire gripped the bed rail.
“She was framing me.”
Noah began to cry.
“I didn’t drink all of it. I poured some in the flowerpot when she looked away.”
“You saved yourself,” Daniel said.
“I made her angry.”
“No.” Claire kissed his forehead. “She made a terrible choice. None of this is because of you.”
A uniformed officer entered and quietly spoke to Ortiz.
She stepped into the hall with Daniel and Claire.
“The search team found a prescription bottle in Claire’s purse,” Ortiz said. “The label has been removed.”
Claire stared at her.
“You know it was planted.”
“We have Noah’s statement, but defense attorneys attack statements from children. We need physical evidence.”
“The video shows Evelyn pouring something into his glass.”
“It doesn’t identify the substance.”
“What about the bottle?”
“We’ll test for fingerprints.”
Daniel remembered the evidence bag Evelyn had stolen.
“She took the tea because it connected the medication to her.”
“Exactly.”
Ortiz’s phone rang.
This time, she answered on speaker.
A deputy’s voice filled the corridor.
“We reached the lake house. Marcus Mercer’s truck is outside. There are signs of a struggle.”
“Is he inside?” Ortiz asked.
“No. We found blood near the dock and his phone smashed in the kitchen.”
Claire covered her mouth.
The deputy continued.
“There’s something else. A boat is missing.”
“Alert lake patrol,” Ortiz ordered.
Daniel took the phone.
“Check the toolshed. There’s an old storm cellar underneath it.”
The deputy went silent for a moment.
“How do you know?”
“My father built it. Mom hated the place, so no one uses it.”
“We’ll check.”
A faint sound came through the call.
A door opening.
Footsteps.
Then the deputy shouted.
“We found him!”
Daniel held his breath.
“He’s alive,” the deputy said. “Barely. Send an ambulance.”
Ortiz took the phone back.
Before she could respond, an alarm sounded from Noah’s room.
They ran inside.
The heart monitor flashed red.
Noah’s body shook beneath the blanket.
A doctor ordered everyone out.
Claire screamed her son’s name as Daniel pulled her into the corridor.
Nurses closed the door.
Through the glass, they saw doctors working over Noah.
One prepared a syringe.
Another began chest compressions.
Claire collapsed against Daniel.
“No, no, no.”
Ortiz received a call from the hospital pharmacy.
Her expression changed as she listened.
She ended the call and faced them.
“The toxicology lab found a second substance in Noah’s blood.”
“What substance?” Daniel demanded.
“A slow-release sedative.”
“The tea had two drugs?”
“The doctors don’t think so. The concentration increased after Noah arrived here.”
Claire stopped crying.
“What are you saying?”
Ortiz looked toward the nurses’ station.
“Someone gave him another drug inside this hospital.”
Daniel looked through the window at his son.
A woman in blue scrubs slipped around the far corner of the corridor.
Only part of her face was visible.
But Daniel recognized Evelyn’s silver bracelet.
He released Claire and ran.
The woman heard his footsteps and looked back.
It was Evelyn.
She pushed through the stairwell door.
Daniel followed.
By the time he reached the stairs, the door below was swinging shut.
He raced downward.
“Mom!”
She did not answer.
He reached the parking garage and saw her running between two rows of cars.
A dark sedan pulled toward her.
The passenger door opened before it stopped.
Evelyn climbed inside.
Daniel ran into the lane.
The sedan accelerated directly at him.
He jumped aside as the mirror struck his shoulder.
The car sped toward the exit.
Daniel caught one clear look at the driver.
May you like
It was not Marcus.
It was Dr. Stephen Vale, Noah’s pediatrician.
