Chapter 10 - The Knock at the Hospital Door
At 4:30 AM, my cell phone vibrated on the table in the hospital family waiting room.
It was Marcus.
Detective Hayes, sitting across from me, signaled for me to answer and put it on speaker while a technician began tracing the cellular triangulation.
"Hey, honey," Marcus's voice was warm, perfectly pitched, carrying just the right note of domestic concern. "I finally wrapped up at the lab. I came home and the front door was unlocked, and you and Lily aren't here. Is everything all right? You're not answering your texts."
My throat felt bone-dry. I looked at Hayes, who mouthed: *Keep him calm. Tell him Lily had an earache.*
"Marcus," I managed to say, forcing my voice to tremble with an innocent panic. "We're at St. Jude's Urgent Care. Lily had a high fever and an earache. They... they decided to keep her overnight for observation."
A heavy silence lingered on the line for three agonizing seconds. When Marcus spoke again, the relaxed warmth had vanished completely. His tone was tight, clipped, and alarmingly cold.
"Which room, Claire?"
"Room 4B in the pediatric wing," I lied, knowing Lily had already been moved to an undisclosed secure room on the fifth floor under an alias.
"I'm on my way," Marcus said quietly. "Don't talk to the doctors until I get there. You know how easily pediatricians overreact to routine childhood infections. I'll take care of everything."
May you like
The line went dead.
Twenty minutes later, the security monitors in the hospital dispatch center lit up. A dark gray sedan pulled smoothly into the pediatric parking garage, idling in the shadows near the emergency exit.
