Chapter 2 - Three Days
Clara and Lily were taken to separate treatment rooms.
I was not allowed to follow either stretcher immediately.
A nurse stopped me.
“Your daughter is breathing on her own.”
I nodded.
“What about Clara?”
“She has a pulse. Let us work.”
My hands were shaking.
My mother sat ten feet away.
Daniel stood beside her.
Neither looked at me.
A police officer named Maya Collins took the recorder.
Not casually.
Evidence bag.
Gloves.
Chain of custody.
I wanted to keep it.
I also wanted whatever was inside it to survive court.
So I let her take it.
“Who put the recorder inside the doll?” Maya asked.
“I do not know.”
“Who owns the doll?”
“My daughter.”
“Who has regular access to the house?”
“Me. Clara. Lily.”
I looked toward my mother.
“Evelyn Reed has been staying with us for two weeks.”
“Why?”
“She said plumbing repairs at her apartment.”
“Daniel?”
“He has a key.”
Daniel interrupted.
“I came because Mom called.”
Maya looked at him.
“When?”
“This afternoon.”
“What time?”
“Maybe one.”
The hospital clock showed 4:08.
“You remained for three hours while a woman and child lay unconscious?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“They were not unconscious when I arrived.”
I turned.
“What?”
He immediately changed direction.
“I mean Clara was talking earlier.”
“When?”
“Before Michael came.”
My mother said:
“Daniel, stop answering ridiculous questions.”
Maya looked at her.
“Mrs. Reed, how long was the pantry locked?”
“It is my son’s food.”
“That was not the question.”
“I locked it yesterday.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
The padlock receipt later showed it had been purchased Monday morning.
Three days earlier.
Exactly when I left.
Dr. Helen Carter finally came through the double doors.
“Michael Reed?”
I stood.
“Your daughter is severely dehydrated and hypoglycemic.”
I could barely speak.
“Is she going to be okay?”
“We are correcting both carefully. She is responding.”
“And Clara?”
“She is more complicated.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“Severe dehydration. Low blood pressure. Electrolyte abnormalities. She also appears to have gone without adequate nutrition.”
“How long?”
“Her laboratory values cannot give us an exact timeline.”
“Three days?”
“Possibly.”
My mother stood.
“That is absurd. Food was available.”
I turned toward her.
“Behind a padlock.”
She opened her mouth.
I raised my hand.
“No.”
For once, she stopped.
Dr. Carter continued.
“Clara also has bruising around several fingers and wrists.”
I saw my mother glance at Daniel.
Tiny.
Fast.
Maya saw it too.
“Any drugs?”
“Routine toxicology is pending. I am not making assumptions.”
Good.
Facts.
I needed facts because rage was offering me too many answers.
Lily woke first.
I sat beside her bed while warmed fluids ran through her IV.
“Daddy?”
“I am here.”
“Mommy?”
“She is being helped.”
Her lower lip trembled.
“Grandma said Mommy was bad.”
I forced my voice steady.
“Why?”
“She would not sign.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“Sign what?”
Lily looked frightened.
“I do not know.”
“Did you see paper?”
She nodded.
“Uncle Daniel had it.”
“What happened?”
“Mommy ripped it.”
“Then?”
“Grandma locked the food.”
I closed my eyes for one second.
“What did Miss Button record?”
Lily looked at the doll inside the clear hospital evidence bag.
“Mommy put the clicker inside.”
“When?”
“Before you went away.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
“Because Grandma turns off the kitchen camera.”
We did not have a kitchen camera.
At least I did not think we did.
“What camera?”
“The little one Mommy bought.”
Another secret.
Not from me.
From my mother.
Lily whispered:
“Mommy said if Grandma tells lies, Miss Button remembers.”
Clara had known enough before my trip to create evidence.
Why did she not tell me?
Then I remembered Sunday night.
Clara stood at the bottom of the stairs while I packed.
“Do you really have to go?”
“It is three days.”
“Daniel can handle the supplier.”
“Nathan wants me there.”
Nathan Cole.
Chief financial officer of Reed Community Development.
My father hired him fifteen years earlier.
Nathan had arranged the Chicago meetings personally.
He was the third voice on the recorder.
Three days.
That is all we need.
By Friday morning, Michael will believe whatever we put in front of him.
My phone felt heavy in my hand.
Maya entered.
“We recovered the first three audio files.”
“How many are there?”
“Seventeen.”
My mother stood outside the glass wall.
Daniel beside her.
“What else?”
“One recording contains your brother telling Clara she has until Friday to sign something.”
“What?”
“We do not know yet.”
“Play it.”
“Not here.”
“Maya.”
“You are angry.”
“Yes.”
“You also have a sick child ten feet away.”
That stopped me.
She lowered her voice.
“We preserve the evidence first. Then we determine what it means.”
I nodded.
Nathan Cole called while she was still standing there.
I looked at his name.
Did not answer.
He called again.
Then sent a message.
MICHAEL, DANIEL SAYS THERE HAS BEEN SOME FAMILY EMERGENCY. CALL ME BEFORE YOU SPEAK TO ANYONE ABOUT FRIDAY.
Maya read it over my shoulder because I showed her.
“What happens Friday?”
I stared at the message.
“Emergency board vote.”
“For what?”
“A nine hundred thousand dollar transfer.”
“To where?”
I had not understood why Clara hated the proposal.
Now I did.
“From the Reed Community Trust.”
“And who has to approve it?”
I looked through the glass at my unconscious wife.
May you like
“Clara.”
Continue to the next part: Clara was the only person standing between Daniel and a nine hundred thousand dollar transfer scheduled for Friday morning.
