Chapter 8 - What Was in the Tea
I drove to the hospital with a police escort and every terrible possibility fighting for space in my head.
Nora was awake when I reached her room.
For one beautiful second, she smiled.
Then she saw my face.
“What happened?”
“We need the doctor.”
Tests had already shown something unusual in her bloodwork, but nobody had connected it to the tea she drank at home.
Dr. Patel returned an hour later.
“There’s a sedating medication in Nora’s system.”
Nora stared at him.
“I didn’t take anything.”
“I know.”
I told him what Madison said.
Police searched our kitchen, trash, and my parents’ luggage, which was still boxed as evidence.
They found a small prescription bottle in Mom’s cosmetic bag with the label peeled off.
I sat beside Nora’s bed and felt something inside me go cold.
“My mother drugged you.”
Nora didn’t answer.
She put both hands over our daughter.
The monitor beeped steadily.
At 3:11 a.m., the contractions returned.
This time they didn’t stop.
Nora gripped my hand while nurses moved around us.
“I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
“Don’t lie to me and say everything’s fine.”
“I won’t.”
She breathed through another contraction.
“Just stay.”
“I’m staying.”
At 5:26 a.m., our daughter arrived five weeks early, furious at the world and screaming louder than anyone in the room.
I cried before the nurse even told us she was breathing well.
We named her Avery Grace Cole.
Four pounds, eleven ounces.
Tiny fingers.
Dark hair.
A grip strong enough to wrap around the tip of my finger and make me forget, for thirty seconds, that my family had tried to steal from her before she took her first breath.
Then Detective Reed came in.
She waited until Nora was stable.
“We arrested your mother.”
I nodded.
“Did she admit it?”
“She admitted putting something in the tea. She claims Caleb told her it was a mild anti-anxiety medication and that it would make Nora easier to reason with.”
Nora laughed bitterly.
“Easier to force a signature from.”
Reed didn’t disagree.
“What about Dad?” I asked.
“We found texts showing he approved the plan.”
“Madison?”
“She’s in protective custody and cooperating.”
“And Julian?”
“Talking nonstop. He thinks confession is negotiation.”
I looked through the NICU window at Avery.
“Is it over?”
Reed’s expression told me no before she spoke.
“Caleb Shaw disappeared six hours ago.”
She handed me a photocopy found in his office safe.
It was a transfer agreement.
My signature was already on it.
May you like
Perfectly forged.
The date was tomorrow.
