Chapter 9 - The Missing Hour
Dr. Singh held up a plastic evidence bag containing an unlabeled pill container. “A nurse found this in your purse. It isn't one of the medications listed in your chart.”
Claire's stomach dropped. “Sloane said the pills were from my regular doctor.”
“I don't want to guess what they are,” Dr. Singh said. “We've sent a sample for testing. For now, don't take anything that isn't dispensed here.”
Ethan stood so fast his chair hit the wall. “She gave my pregnant wife mystery pills?”
Claire flinched. “Please don't yell. I can't take any more of that.”
He sat down again, ashamed. “You're right. I'm sorry.”
Outside, Ortiz requested an urgent lab review. Inside, Claire tried to reconstruct the afternoon. The house had been full of donors. Sloane had brought her a glass of water and two tablets, then insisted she rest before the party. Claire remembered feeling oddly heavy and having trouble holding her phone. Her last clear memory was Sloane rolling her toward the French doors.
“There's almost an hour missing,” she told Ethan.
He studied her face. “I should've come when you called.”
“You said the investors needed you.”
“I did.”
“And I believed you.”
Claire stared at the ceiling until her eyes burned. For years she'd defended him at neighborhood meetings, telling furious tenants that Ethan really wanted to build safe homes. She wasn't sure anymore whether she'd been protecting a good man or helping him hide from himself.
Maya arrived with a clean overnight bag and a small stuffed rabbit from the nursery. She set it beside Claire and said quietly, “The blue folder is gone.”
Claire shut her eyes. “I know.”
“You moved it?” Maya asked.
“Someone did.”
“Who?”
Claire reached for the rabbit. She rubbed its worn ear, then pulled a tiny thread from the seam at its back. Inside was a folded receipt.
“I hid the original documents somewhere nobody would look,” she said. “This tells us where.”
May you like
Maya unfolded it. Across the top was the name of a storage facility on the other side of town. Beneath it was a unit number and a handwritten warning.
IF I GO MISSING, DON'T TRUST ETHAN.
