Chapter 5 - What Margaret Knew
Daniel put Margaret on speaker.
The room became very quiet.
“Mom,” he said. “Why is Emily’s prescription in your bathroom?”
Margaret did not answer immediately.
Then she sighed.
“Because she is unstable.”
Emily’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
“What?”
“I was trying to help her.”
“By giving me medication without telling me?”
“You were anxious. Irrational. You cried over everything.”
“I was pregnant.”
“You were making Daniel miserable.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Mom, did you put pills in her food?”
“I gave her what a doctor said would help.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened. “Do not interrogate me like I’m a stranger.”
Emily heard something new in Daniel’s silence.
Not loyalty.
Fear.
He asked, “Why did Dr. Cole write the prescription in Emily’s name?”
“Because insurance is complicated.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Then ask him.”
The line went dead.
The next morning, Daniel did.
Dr. Cole denied prescribing anything to Emily.
Then he called back twenty minutes later.
His office had discovered that somebody accessed his electronic prescribing account after hours on six separate dates.
All six dates matched the pharmacy pickups.
The login location traced to Margaret’s home network.
Daniel stared at the printout the hospital investigator brought them.
Emily watched his face collapse one belief at a time.
“She used his account,” he whispered.
Officer Ramirez returned with a detective from the domestic violence unit.
They asked Daniel for access to the house.
He agreed.
Margaret had already left.
Inside her bedroom closet, police found a locked document box.
In it were copies of Emily’s medical records, printouts from her prenatal portal, and notes written in Margaret’s handwriting.
MOOD SWINGS.
FORGETFUL.
SLEEPS DURING DAY.
UNFIT AFTER DELIVERY?
Emily stopped breathing.
Daniel looked at the last page.
It was a draft petition.
Temporary guardianship of an unborn child.
Petitioner: Margaret Carter.
Supporting witness: Daniel Carter.
Daniel’s face drained of color.
“I never signed this.”
May you like
The detective pointed to the signature line.
Someone had signed it for him anyway.
