Chapter 15 - Someone Came Back
Priya clamped the line before another drop entered my vein.
Everything moved at once.
The bag came down. My IV tubing was replaced. Blood was drawn. Security locked the unit again.
“Did any of it reach her?” Grant asked.
Priya inspected the pump history.
“Less than two minutes. Maybe very little.”
“Maybe?”
“I’m not going to lie to you. We need to monitor both of them.”
The contraction monitor began climbing.
I gripped the bed rail.
“Who changed it?”
That question mattered almost as much as the baby’s heartbeat.
Door access logs showed one temporary agency nurse entered my room seven minutes earlier while Priya was on the phone.
Nobody on staff recognized her.
Security pulled her badge record.
The badge had been printed that afternoon.
Authorized by Caleb Morton.
Caleb was already in custody when it was used.
Raymond’s security chief spoke into his radio.
“Find her. Now.”
Grant stood near the door, helpless and furious.
“I should have seen what my mother was.”
“This is not the moment to make me comfort you.”
He looked ashamed.
“You’re right.”
The baby’s heart rate dipped again.
Priya came to my side.
“Emily, I need you focused on me. We may have to deliver tonight.”
My fear stopped being abstract.
“No. She’s too early.”
“Thirty-one weeks is early, but we have a strong neonatal team. We do what keeps both of you safest.”
I nodded because there was nothing else to do.
Security found the fake nurse in a stairwell two floors down.
She tried to leave through the loading dock.
Her real name was Tessa Ward, a former Briar Glen employee.
In her bag were cash, a burner phone, and a handwritten note with my room number.
The last outgoing message on the burner went to a contact saved only as E.
Police requested an arrest warrant for Evelyn.
Grant closed his eyes.
I did not.
I was done looking away from what was in front of me.
Then Tessa’s phone received one final text.
Security photographed it before the device was bagged.
It said:
IF THE BABY COMES TONIGHT, MAKE SURE EMILY DOESN’T SIGN ANYTHING.
May you like
Underneath was a second line.
GRANT WILL DO WHAT HE ALWAYS DOES.
