Chapter 3 - The Doctor Who Never Treated Anna
Anna was taken to the hospital.
Lily rode beside her.
I followed with Colin while police remained at the house with Marlene.
At the emergency department, doctors tested Anna’s blood.
The results showed a combination of strong sedatives and another medication capable of causing confusion, weakness, and memory problems when used improperly.
None had been prescribed to her.
Dr. Rebecca Moore entered the consultation room with a serious expression.
“Your wife’s symptoms were likely caused or significantly worsened by repeated medication exposure.”
My hands tightened.
“Will she recover?”
“We expect improvement as the drugs leave her system, but she needs monitoring.”
Lily sat beside me clutching my arm.
“Did Grandma make Mom sick?”
Dr. Moore looked toward me.
I answered carefully.
“We are finding out.”
Lily shook her head.
“She did.”
There was no hesitation.
Only a certainty no child should have needed.
Detective Sarah Collins arrived with the surviving home security file.
The footage showed Marlene entering our kitchen at 8:14 on the night Anna first complained of dizziness.
Dr. Gregory Shaw followed carrying a medical case.
Anna appeared several minutes later.
She seemed tired but alert.
Marlene handed her a cup of tea.
Anna drank.
Within twenty minutes, she struggled to remain awake.
Dr. Shaw examined her briefly while Marlene stood nearby.
The audio captured him saying,
“This will look natural if the dosage remains consistent.”
I felt physically sick.
Detective Collins continued playing the file.
Marlene asked,
“How long before the court believes she cannot care for the child?”
Dr. Shaw answered,
“Two weeks of documented confusion should be enough.”
They had not reacted to an illness.
They created one.
Anna had recently inherited a large trust from her father.
According to the guardianship petition, if she became incapacitated, Marlene would gain temporary control of both Lily and the trust funds designated for the child.
I looked at the detective.
“This is about money?”
“Possibly.”
Lily shook her head.
“Grandma hates Dad too.”
I turned toward her.
“What did she say?”
“She said you took Mom away.”
The words revealed something deeper.
Marlene had never accepted Anna’s marriage.
She appeared polite during holidays and praised me in public, but every private conversation carried criticism.
I worked too much.
Our house was too small.
Lily attended the wrong school.
Anna had married beneath her family.
Marlene wanted her daughter and granddaughter back under her control.
The trust gave her a financial reason.
Possession gave her an emotional one.
Detective Collins asked Lily how she discovered the truth.
My daughter looked toward the hospital room where Anna slept.
“I heard Grandma talking to the doctor.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Lily had awakened early and walked toward the guest room after hearing Anna cry.
The door was locked.
She hid near the staircase when Dr. Shaw arrived.
He told Marlene the court hearing was scheduled for Monday.
Marlene said they needed Anna to appear confused for only three more days.
Then Dr. Shaw asked whether Lily had noticed anything.
Marlene replied,
“She believes whatever I tell her.”
Lily entered the guest room later after finding Marlene’s key on the kitchen counter.
Anna was barely awake.
She managed to say only three things.
Find Dad.
Check the purse.
Do not drink anything Grandma gives you.
Lily returned the key before Marlene noticed.
But she took a black flash drive from the bedside table.
“What happened to it?” I asked.
Lily looked frightened.
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“In my unicorn.”
Her favorite stuffed toy remained at the house.
Detective Collins immediately contacted the officers searching the property.
They found the flash drive inside a small zipper on the toy’s back.
It belonged to Dr. Shaw.
The drive contained draft medical reports, guardianship documents, and financial records showing payments from Marlene.
One file held an audio recording.
Dr. Shaw’s voice said,
“Once Anna is declared unfit, Ethan may challenge custody.”
Marlene answered,
“Then we make him look dangerous.”
“How?”
“He already loses his temper when Lily is threatened.”
I stared at the screen.
They had expected me to discover something.
They wanted me angry enough to create evidence against myself.
Marlene pinning Lily to the floor may not have been only panic.
She may have hoped I would attack her.
Instead, I pulled her away.
Then witnesses arrived.
The plan began collapsing.
Police arrested Dr. Shaw at his clinic before he could destroy additional records.
Marlene was also taken into custody.
She continued claiming she acted to protect Lily.
The flash drive proved preparation, payment, and conspiracy.
Then investigators discovered a previous guardianship case involving Dr. Shaw.
Seven years earlier, he had declared another wealthy woman incapable of caring for her child.
Marlene had been listed as a character witness.
The woman was Anna’s older sister, Claire.
The sister Anna told me had died after a long mental illness.
She was not dead.
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She was living inside a private residential facility.
Continue to the next part: Ethan and Anna will uncover what happened to Claire, forcing Marlene to face the daughter she had already erased before targeting Anna and Lily.
