Chapter 2
For a moment, I could not speak.
The emergency room seemed to shrink around me.
Lily’s monitor beeped.
The oxygen hissed softly under her nose.
Detective Collins lifted one finger to her lips.
Stay calm.
I forced air into my lungs.
“What did you say?”
Michael paused.
Just half a second.
But I heard it.
“I asked if the doctors found the second injector,” he said. “You always carry two, right?”
My mouth went dry.
“Yes.”
“So did they find it?”
Detective Collins pointed to herself, then made a writing motion.
I understood.
Keep him talking.
“Why does that matter?” I asked.
Michael laughed, but it sounded thin.
“Because if you lost both, Daniel, that’s bad. People are going to ask questions.”
I looked at the evidence bag on the table.
The first injector had been found in Evelyn’s car.
The second was still missing.
Lily shifted under the blanket.
I squeezed her hand gently.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“At home.”
“Why?”
“Where else would I be?”
“You heard something happened to Lily, and you went home?”
Another pause.
“I thought the hospital would be crowded.”
“Crowded with who?”
“Evelyn. Doctors. Police maybe.”
Detective Collins leaned forward slightly.
“How did you know police were here?” I asked.
Michael exhaled.
“Daniel, don’t start.”
“Start what?”
“This attitude. I’m trying to help you.”
Help.
The word nearly made me laugh.
My brother had helped Evelyn build a case to take my child.
He had signed papers calling me unstable.
He had known about the injectors.
And now he was calmly asking if the doctors had found the second one.
“Did Evelyn call you?” I asked.
“No.”
“She didn’t tell you Lily was in the ER?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Michael’s voice tightened.
“A friend from the luncheon.”
“What friend?”
“You don’t know them.”
Detective Collins wrote something on her pad.
I looked at Lily.
Her eyes were open now.
She was listening.
Too much.
I wanted to cover her ears.
I wanted to protect her from every adult who had turned her life into a transaction.
But the truth was already in the room.
“Michael,” I said. “Why did you sign those papers?”
Silence.
This time, long.
“What papers?”
“The petition.”
His breathing changed.
“Daniel—”
“You told the court I was dangerous.”
“No. No, that’s not what happened.”
“I’m looking at your signature.”
He cursed under his breath.
Detective Collins raised her eyebrows.
Keep going.
“What did Evelyn promise you?” I asked.
Michael’s voice dropped.
“You don’t understand what she has.”
“What does she have?”
“She has records.”
“What records?”
“Bank records. Medical notes. Emails. Stuff that looks bad.”
My heart pounded.
“Looks bad for who?”
“For you,” he snapped. “For all of us if this blows up.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
I mouthed, “It’s okay.”
But it was not okay.
Nothing was okay.
“What did you do?” I asked.
Michael did not answer.
“What did you do to Lily’s trust?”
“Keep your voice down.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“You’re on speaker.”
Another silence.
Then Michael’s voice went cold.
“Who’s there?”
Detective Collins pointed at the phone again.
Answer carefully.
“Lily,” I said. “She’s awake.”
Michael let out a shaky breath.
“Hey, kiddo.”
Lily turned her face away from the phone.
I felt something inside me harden.
“Do not talk to her.”
“Daniel, you need to listen. If Evelyn is still at the hospital, don’t let her talk to police alone.”
“Why?”
“Because she’ll save herself.”
“From what?”
He whispered, “From what we did.”
The room froze.
Detective Collins’s pen stopped moving.
My brother seemed to realize what he had said.
“Daniel—”
“No,” I said. “Keep talking.”
“I can fix this.”
“What did you do?”
“It wasn’t supposed to hurt Lily.”
A sound left my mouth.
Not a word.
Not a breath.
Something worse.
Lily’s fingers went limp inside mine.
I stood up so fast my chair hit the wall.
Detective Collins grabbed my wrist.
Not hard.
Enough.
Do not explode.
I lowered myself back down.
Michael kept talking.
“It was supposed to scare people. That’s all. Evelyn said if you looked negligent, the court would move fast. She said Lily would be safe because the chef would catch the plate change before she ate. She said there would be time.”
“You knew peanuts were involved?”
“No. Not at first.”
“At first?”
“I thought it was about paperwork.”
“Paperwork doesn’t stop a child from breathing.”
Michael’s voice cracked.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Daniel, I panicked when she said she took the injector. I told her to put it back.”
“You knew she stole them?”
“One.”
I looked at Detective Collins.
She leaned closer.
“One?” I asked.
Michael swallowed audibly.
“She said she only needed one missing. Enough to make you look careless. But I saw both were gone when I checked your jacket at home.”
My blood went cold.
“You checked my jacket?”
“You left it downstairs last night. Evelyn asked me to make sure the medicine was there.”
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t trust you to carry them.”
“No,” I said. “Why did she ask you?”
Michael breathed hard.
“Because she knew I’d do it.”
Lily started crying silently.
I wiped her cheek with my thumb.
The phone crackled.
“Daniel,” Michael whispered. “Did they find the second injector?”
“What happened to it?”
“I need to know if they found it.”
“Why?”
“Because if they test it, everything changes.”
Detective Collins’s eyes sharpened.
“What would they find?” I asked.
Michael did not answer.
“What would they find, Michael?”
His voice dropped so low I almost missed it.
“Evelyn’s prints aren’t the only ones on it.”
Then the call ended.
I stared at the screen.
My brother’s name disappeared.
The room stayed silent.
Detective Collins reached for the phone.
“May I?”
I handed it to her.
She stepped into the hallway and spoke quickly to the officer outside.
“Send units to Daniel Reed’s residence. Locate Michael Reed. Secure all medications, trash, coat pockets, kitchen drawers, vehicles. We still need the second injector.”
My last name sounded strange in her mouth.
Like I was not a father anymore.
Like I was a case file.
Lily whispered, “Uncle Michael helped her?”
I sat beside the bed.
My legs felt weak.
“I don’t know everything yet.”
“But he did?”
I could not lie.
Not after everyone else had lied around her.
“Yes,” I said. “It sounds like he did.”
Her face crumpled.
“He picked me up from school.”
“I know.”
“He made pancakes.”
“I know.”
“He said Grandma Evelyn was mean because she missed Mom.”
My chest hurt.
I leaned forward and kissed her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Lily stared at the ceiling.
“Dad?”
“Yes, baby.”
“Was Mom’s money why they wanted me?”
I closed my eyes.
I hated that she understood.
She was eight.
She should have been asking for juice.
Not inheritance law.
“Your mom left that money to protect you,” I said. “Not to make anyone want control of you.”
“But they did.”
“Yes.”
Detective Collins returned.
Her face was serious.
“We have units heading to your house. But there’s something else.”
I looked up.
She placed another document beside the petition.
“This was folded inside the same envelope.”
It was a copy of a bank transfer request.
Lily’s trust account.
Nine hundred thousand dollars.
Destination account listed as a private medical foundation.
I stared at the name.
Hart Children’s Wellness Initiative.
Evelyn’s charity.
The request had not gone through.
Not yet.
But it had been prepared.
And at the bottom, under trustee authorization, was a forged version of my signature.
My brother had signed as witness again.
“Michael said Evelyn had records,” I whispered.
Detective Collins nodded.
“We need to know whether this is the first attempt.”
“It isn’t,” Lily said.
We both turned to her.
Her face was pale.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Lily swallowed.
“Uncle Michael came into Mom’s office last week. The room with the locked cabinet.”
My body went cold.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He said he was looking for old photos.”
“What did he take?”
May you like
Her little mouth trembled.
“A blue folder. And Mom’s silver key.”
