Chapter 14 - Lake Mercer
Claire's medication bag contained prenatal vitamins, antacids, an iron supplement, and two prescriptions.
Nothing that should have mattered to my mother.
Until Dr. Patel looked at the list.
"Claire has a medication prescribed as needed for severe nausea," she said. "It can cause drowsiness."
I understood immediately.
"Could someone use it to make her look confused?"
Dr. Patel's answer was careful. "Misusing any medication can be dangerous. I am not going to speculate beyond that."
She didn't need to.
Ramirez got a judge to authorize a search of my mother's lake house based on the forged records, threats, and stolen property.
I was told to stay away.
For once, I listened.
Barely.
Claire and I watched rain streak the hospital window while we waited.
"Do you hate me?" I asked.
She turned toward me. "For what?"
"For not seeing it."
"I don't hate you."
That should have made me feel better.
It didn't.
"But I'm angry," she added.
I nodded.
"You should be."
"Every time I said your mother crossed a line, you explained the line away. You said she was lonely. Protective. Intense. Old-fashioned. You always had a softer word for what she did."
I stared at the floor.
"I won't do that again."
"I need more than a promise."
"You'll get more."
My phone rang before I could say how.
Ramirez.
"We found the medication bag," he said. "And your wife's laptop."
"Where's my mother?"
"Not here."
"What did you find?"
"Documents. A lot of them. Draft guardianship petitions. Printed medical records. Copies of your travel schedule."
Claire covered her mouth.
"Anything else?"
Ramirez paused.
"A packed hospital bag for the baby."
I stood.
"What?"
"Diapers. Bottles. Newborn clothes. Car seat base in the garage."
My skin crawled.
"She planned to take him."
"It appears she planned for the baby to be in her care. We still need to establish exactly how."
Then Ramirez's voice sharpened.
"Adrian, listen to me. Do not leave the hospital."
"Why?"
"We found a second phone. There are messages between Evelyn and a man named Martin Cole."
"The nurse?"
"He's not a nurse."
I waited.
"He's a former hospital transport employee. Fired three years ago for falsifying patient records."
Claire and I looked at each other.
May you like
Ramirez continued.
"And one of his messages from this morning says, 'If the husband comes back early, we move tonight.'"
