Chapter 9 - GRANDMA CAROL
Carol Bennett entered the pediatric floor in a camel coat and pearls, looking more offended than frightened.
“I want my grandchildren released to me.”
Leah met her near the nurses’ station.
“That won’t happen tonight.”
Carol’s eyes sharpened. “I am their grandmother.”
“Your daughter is missing.”
“My daughter is emotional.”
Mia heard the voice from Caleb’s room and hid behind the recliner.
Julia noticed.
Carol lowered her voice.
“Travis has made mistakes, but Erin has always exaggerated.”
Leah stared at her.
“Did she exaggerate the locked pantry?”
Carol blinked.
“The what?”
“Or the power-of-attorney form on his computer?”
No answer.
“Or the fact that your six-year-old granddaughter walked nearly two miles carrying a sick baby because no adult helped her?”
Carol’s mouth tightened.
“I came to take care of this family.”
A voice behind her said, “You had eight years.”
Dana Price stepped off the elevator.
Carol recognized her immediately.
That was the first real crack.
“You,” Carol whispered.
Dana held up the old report from Unit 214.
“Cody Miller. You remember him?”
Carol looked away.
“You paid his mother’s deposit on an apartment in Oklahoma three days after she withdrew her complaint.”
“I helped a young woman start over.”
“You helped Travis avoid consequences.”
Carol’s face hardened.
“You don’t understand families.”
Dana took one step closer.
“I understand patterns.”
Mia appeared in the doorway.
“Grandma?”
Carol turned and instantly softened.
“Oh, baby.”
Mia didn’t move toward her.
“Did you know Uncle Travis locked the food?”
Carol’s face collapsed for half a second.
That was enough.
Mia saw it.
“So you knew.”
“No, sweetheart—”
“You always know.”
The hallway went silent.
Then Dana’s phone buzzed.
A patrol unit had located Travis’s truck on a county road seventeen miles north.
The driver’s door was open.
May you like
There was blood on the steering wheel.
And Erin was not there.
