Chapter 2 - THE BLUE FOLDER
Ryan unlocked the drawer.
Linda lunged.
"Don't."
He blocked her with one arm.
Inside were three folders, a cassette tape, an old photograph, and a hospital bracelet yellowed with age.
Ryan lifted the top folder.
Blue.
On the tab:
EMILY HALE - 1997.
"Who is Emily?"
Ryan did not answer.
Linda did.
"Nobody."
"She was my sister."
"You never told me you had a sister."
"She died when I was nine."
Linda snapped, "This is private."
Emergency room notes.
Infant female.
Four months old.
Respiratory distress.
Possible aspiration.
Bruising around upper arms.
A social worker's report was clipped behind it.
Mother states child was difficult feeder.
Older sibling reports mother "poured the bottle on her face because she wouldn't stop crying."
My hands went cold.
"You were the older sibling."
His eyes filled.
"Yes."
"That report was dismissed."
Ryan took it back.
"Because Dad paid a lawyer."
"No."
"Because Dad paid everybody."
Noah whimpered.
EMILY ROSE HALE.
"Did she die that day?"
"Two weeks later."
"From what?"
"Officially? Complications from pneumonia."
"Unofficially?"
Linda whispered, "Stop."
He said, "She never fully recovered."
I felt sick.
"And you let this woman stay in my house with our baby?"
"She promised."
"Promised what?"
"That she had changed."
"When?"
He did not answer.
Linda did.
"Six months ago."
"Six months ago?"
Noah was three months old.
"Why would she need to promise before Noah existed?"
Because there was another incident.
At my baby shower.
Chloe screamed.
When Ryan entered, Linda was holding a bottle over the baby's mouth while milk ran down her neck.
My cousin never knew.
I could barely speak.
"You hid that?"
"I thought I handled it."
"You hid it."
"I told Mom she would never be alone with Noah."
"But she was."
I had been taking calls.
Showering.
Sleeping.
Trusting.
"I'm leaving."
I said, "No."
"You can't keep me here."
"No."
"But the police can ask why a four-month-old baby ended up in the hospital after you did this before."
Then Ryan whispered, "There's more."
He reached into the drawer.
May you like
And pulled out a second folder.
It had my name on it.
