Chapter 4 - The Caller
I showed Ryan the phone.
Linda lunged.
Ryan caught her wrist before she reached me.
"Who is texting Sarah?"
"I don't know," Ryan said.
"You're lying."
Linda pulled free and backed toward the stairs.
I called the number.
Someone answered on the second ring.
A woman.
"Sarah?"
"Who are you?"
A pause.
"My name is Elaine Foster. I was the night nurse when Anna Mercer died."
Ryan sat down hard.
Linda whispered, "Hang up."
Elaine heard her.
"She's there?"
"Yes."
"Then don't let her destroy the blue folder."
Ryan looked at the envelope. "There is no blue folder."
Elaine went quiet.
"Frank said he put it with the hospital records."
Linda turned and ran upstairs.
Ryan moved after her.
"Mom!"
A bedroom door slammed.
I heard drawers opening.
Elaine spoke quickly. "The blue folder contains the statement I gave Frank. I wrote down exactly what I saw when Linda brought Anna into the emergency room. Frank made me promise I'd keep a copy."
"Why didn't you go to police?"
Her answer came like a confession.
"I did. Frank stopped it. He said if Linda went to prison, seven-year-old Ryan would be taken into foster care because he had no other family. He begged me to wait until Ryan was older."
A crash came from upstairs.
Ryan ran.
I put Noah in his bassinet and followed.
We found Linda in the guest room with an old suitcase open on the bed.
Inside was a blue folder.
May you like
She struck a match.
And dropped it onto the first page.
