Chapter 4 - The Woman at the Birthday Party
Nadia Bell had brought a pink gift bag to Chloe's birthday and stayed just long enough to take photographs.
I remembered her laughing with Lucas near the kitchen doorway.
I remembered her husband, Elliot, talking about a new investment platform that would make them all rich.
Most of all, I remembered Nadia handing Chloe a glitter-covered card and telling her to call if she ever needed anything.
At the time, it seemed harmless.
Now the memory followed me everywhere.
Detective Reed did not tell me what she suspected about Nadia.
She only asked about the relationship and whether Lucas knew where Nadia worked.
“Of course he does,” I answered.
“They've known each other for years.”
That afternoon, a child advocacy coordinator explained the next steps in Chloe's care.
Chloe would be seen by appropriate clinicians, and a trained interviewer would speak with her using a developmentally sensitive process.
I was advised not to question her repeatedly about possible events.
The hardest instruction I received was also the clearest.
“Let Chloe know she can tell you things without being punished, but don't ask her to prove anything to you.”
I nodded.
I was desperate for answers.
But Chloe was not a witness I could press for a better story.
She was my daughter.
And I needed to be her mother more than I needed to be a detective.
After lunch, she asked if Mr. Whiskers could have a bandage.
I found a clean strip of gauze, and she carefully wrapped it around the rabbit's right paw.
“He was brave,” she said.
“Was he?”
She nodded solemnly.
“He didn't tell anybody because he was scared.”
I felt the old urge to ask what she meant.
Instead, I said, “I'm glad he has you to help him.”
Chloe looked at me for a long moment, then settled back with the rabbit.
Later, Denise called with news from the emergency-custody case.
Lucas had retained a prominent attorney and supplied a written statement from my mother.
I stopped breathing.
“What statement?”
“She apparently said you'd been under a great deal of stress and had been behaving differently.”
My mother had signed something.
I couldn't believe it.
When I called her, she answered on the first ring.
“Sarah, honey, are you okay?”
“Did you sign a statement for Lucas?”
Silence.
“He told me it was just to explain how worried he was.”
“Did you read it?”
“He said his lawyer prepared it.”
“Mom.”
My voice broke on the single word.
“He's trying to take Chloe away from me.”
“No, sweetheart, he said he wants everybody home.”
“And you believed him?”
She started crying.
I did not comfort her.
I loved my mother, but I had no room left to carry an adult's remorse while my child was frightened.
“Please don't sign anything else,” I said.
“And don't tell him where we are.”
I ended the call before she could promise what she had already failed to do.
That evening, Detective Reed asked me to come to the station without Chloe.
Denise accompanied me.
The detective placed a printed screenshot on the table.
It was a system access log from the hospital network, showing that someone had viewed an appointment record associated with Chloe after we checked in.
The details were being investigated, and Reed would not disclose everything the technology team knew.
But one name stood out on the access list.
Nadia Bell.
The record access occurred before Lucas sent his message about Dr. Collins.
I pressed both hands against my knees.
“So she told him?”
“We're examining the communications,” Reed said.
“And we won't assume more than the records show.”
Then she slid another document across the table.
It listed several appointments booked under Chloe's name during the previous month.
Two were familiar.
One wasn't.
A consultation had been canceled before I ever learned it existed.
May you like
And the cancellation request had come from an account associated with Lucas.
