Chapter 4
I did not sleep.
By morning, Lily woke crying and hoarse.
“Mommy.”
I leaned over her.
“I’m here.”
“Grandma no.”
“She can’t come here.”
“Daddy?”
I paused.
Daddy had watched.
Daddy had hidden medicine.
Daddy had lied about a dead woman who was not dead.
“Daddy can’t come right now.”
Lily turned her face into the pillow.
That hurt.
But truth hurts cleaner than lies.
Detective Morales returned with news.
They had found Claire.
She was alive.
In a private care facility two counties away.
Paid for by Ryan.
My stomach clenched.
“What happened to her?”
The detective hesitated.
“She suffered a brain injury five years ago.”
“From what?”
“A fall at the Carter family lake house.”
I closed my eyes.
Ryan had told me Claire died of illness.
He had not told me she fell.
He had not told me she survived.
He had not told me he still paid for her care.
“Can I see her?”
“That may be complicated.”
“Why?”
“She has limited speech. Her legal guardian is listed as Diane Carter.”
The room went cold.
Diane controlled Claire.
Diane controlled the medicine.
Diane had given that medicine to Lily.
I asked, “Who prescribed it?”
Detective Morales looked at his notes.
“Dr. Alan Price.”
I knew that name.
Ryan’s family doctor.
The same doctor Diane insisted I take Lily to when she had trouble sleeping.
The same doctor who told me I worried too much.
I gripped Lily’s hand gently.
May you like
“How many people were part of this?”
The detective’s silence said enough.
