Chapter 2 - EIGHTEEN MINUTES
Ethan arrived at the emergency department forty minutes later.
Claire sat beside Emma’s warming bassinet, shaking so hard she could barely speak.
The baby was stable.
Cold, frightened, mildly dehydrated.
No major injury.
That was the only reason Claire could breathe.
Ethan rushed in.
“What happened?”
Claire looked at him.
“Your stepmother put our daughter in a toilet.”
Ethan stopped.
Margaret stood near the wall with a hospital security officer.
“She did not see what happened,” Margaret said immediately.
Claire laughed once.
A horrible sound.
“I saw you.”
“You saw me trying to help.”
“You had a plunger over her.”
“I was trying to pull the blanket free.”
Claire reached for her phone.
Then remembered Margaret’s draft.
“Show him.”
Margaret stiffened.
“Show me what?” Ethan asked.
Claire told him.
Eighteen minutes before Claire opened the bathroom door, Margaret had already drafted a message claiming Claire had left Emma there.
Ethan stared at his stepmother.
Margaret said:
“I started writing after I heard Emma crying.”
“You hadn’t called me,” Ethan said.
“I was panicking.”
“Why write a message before getting her out?”
Margaret’s voice rose.
“Because your wife has been confused for weeks and somebody needed to document what was happening.”
Claire turned to Ethan.
“Confused?”
His face changed.
Too slowly.
Claire saw it.
“You knew she was saying that.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“Claire—”
“You knew.”
“She told me you were exhausted.”
“What else?”
He did not answer.
Claire’s fear changed shape.
Margaret had not invented the story in the bathroom.
She had been preparing Ethan for it.
Claire whispered:
“How long?”
Ethan looked at the floor.
“Since the week Emma came home.”
Claire’s heart sank.
Then a nurse entered carrying Claire’s belongings from the ambulance.
On top was the baby-care tablet Margaret had been using at the house.
Its screen lit.
A notification appeared:
NURSERY TEMPERATURE UPDATED — 61°F.
Changed by:
MARGARET M.
Claire stared.
May you like
Emma had been repeatedly waking cold for six nights.
And Margaret had told everyone Claire kept forgetting to adjust the thermostat.
