Chapter 2 - The Hospital File

Grant did not confront Renata at the hospital.

That surprised Emma.

She expected shouting. Police. Security dragging Renata out by the arms.

Instead, Grant became frighteningly calm.

"Emma," he said, "stay with Lily."

"Where are you going?"

"To make sure nobody leaves with a story before I have facts."

Renata sat in the waiting room, crying into a tissue.

When Grant approached, she stood.

"Thank God. Is Lily okay?"

"She's stable."

Renata reached for him.

He stepped back.

Her hand stopped in the air.

"Grant?"

"The police are coming."

Her face changed for less than a second.

Then she whispered, "Because of Emma?"

"Because of what Lily said."

"Lily is traumatized."

"She spoke."

"One sentence after two years. You can't build a criminal accusation on that."

Grant stared at her.

"Why are you already calling it a criminal accusation?"

Renata went still.

A detective arrived twenty minutes later.

Detective Ava Ruiz was compact, direct, and unimpressed by wealth.

She spoke to Grant first.

"Who has access to Lily's medications?"

"Her pediatrician. Me. The household nurse when we use one."

"Renata?"

"She has helped with vitamins. Nothing else."

Ruiz wrote that down.

Emma sat beside Lily as the girl woke.

"Emma?"

The word was barely audible.

Emma's eyes filled.

"I'm right here."

Lily looked toward the door.

"Don't let her come in."

"I won't."

Ruiz later asked Lily simple questions with a child advocate present.

Lily answered only a few.

But one mattered.

"Where did Renata give you the medicine?"

Lily pointed toward an imaginary cup.

"Tea."

Grant stared.

Renata had insisted for months that Lily drink "sleepy tea" before bed.

Ruiz asked, "Did your mom ever drink it?"

Lily's entire body stiffened.

She looked at Grant.

Then whispered, "Mom said it tasted wrong."

Grant's face collapsed.

That night, he opened Claire's archived medical file.

There it was.

Sedative detected.

The report had been marked "incidental."

Signed by Dr. Martin Vale.

Grant knew the name.

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Vale was not Claire's doctor.

He was Renata's uncle.