Chapter 3
Patricia told Daniel she had been too upset to remember.
She said she had looked at Emily for only a moment, then left the hospital so she could call the funeral home. Her voice trembled as she spoke. Daniel had heard that tremble all his life. It made him want to comfort her.
This time he stepped aside and let her finish without touching her.
“I need to talk to Dr. Kim,” he said.
“You can do that after I see my daughter-in-law.”
“She needs rest.”
Patricia’s expression tightened. “I’m family.”
“So am I,” I said quietly, though my place in Emily’s life was different from hers.
Patricia looked at my orange uniform. I had forgotten I was still wearing it.
“You’ve caused enough trouble,” she said.
Daniel turned.
“Nia saved Emily’s life.”
Patricia said nothing.
A nurse explained that visits were limited. Daniel asked that Patricia wait until the medical team had finished its work. She left after a few minutes, but I saw her speaking to Dr. Harlan near the elevators.
I told Officer Grant.
He thanked me and said investigators were preserving hospital records and security footage. He did not tell me what he suspected.
Claire called an hour later. She and Grant had found Emily’s notebook in the bedside drawer.
“Some pages are missing,” Claire said.
“Which pages?”
“The last few. I can see where they were torn out.”
Emily’s handwriting filled the remaining pages. She had recorded each dose of medicine, the time she took it, and how she felt. On the last complete page, she wrote that Patricia had brought her a new bottle of tablets from Dr. Harlan.
“She wrote that they tasted different,” Claire said.
I remembered Emily pushing away a glass of water that morning.
“Did she take one?”
“She wrote that she took half. The next line says she felt dizzy.”
Daniel heard enough of the call to come closer.
“Bring the notebook to the hospital,” he said. “Dr. Kim needs to see it.”
Claire arrived with it sealed in a clear bag Grant had given her. Dr. Kim read the copies Claire had made. She asked for the bottle from Emily’s room to be brought through the proper hospital process so it could be examined.
I tried to remember the last time I had seen it. Patricia kept Emily’s medicine in a small tray beside the bed. After the ambulance took Emily away the first time, I had cleaned the room at Patricia’s request. The tray was still there then.
“I didn’t throw anything out,” I told Claire.
“Good.”
That evening, Lily came to the hospital with Claire’s husband. Dr. Kim said Emily was not ready for a visit, so Daniel met Lily in a quiet family room.
I waited outside until Lily saw me.
She ran over and wrapped both arms around my waist.
“You found Mommy,” she said.
“She kept trying to tell us she was there.”
Lily pulled back. “Aunt Claire said Mommy’s very tired.”
“She is.”
“Is she going to die again?”
I crouched in front of her.
“The doctors are taking care of her. I won’t promise something I can’t know. Right now, she’s alive, and they’re watching her closely.”
Lily nodded, though her eyes filled.
Daniel joined us. He picked her up, and she buried her face against his shoulder.
“I told my teacher she was dead,” Lily whispered.
“I know,” he said. “We can tell her what happened when you’re ready.”
“I don’t understand what happened.”
“Neither do I yet. We’re finding out.”
It was the first time I had heard Daniel tell his daughter he did not know an answer rather than offering a comforting guess.
I hoped it was a beginning.
Later that night, Emily opened her eyes.
Dr. Kim called Daniel into the room. I waited in the hall. Through the glass, I saw him speak to her and saw her move her lips. He came out seconds later.
“She asked for Lily,” he said.
“Does she know what happened?” I asked.
“She asked why everyone was wearing black.”
I looked down at the clothes I had borrowed from Claire. My orange uniform sat in a bag at my feet.
Daniel went back inside with Dr. Kim. Emily needed rest. They would ask her more when she was stronger.
Just after midnight, my phone rang. The caller ID showed the house.
I answered.
Patricia’s voice came through, low and sharp.
“You had no right to break open that coffin.”
“Emily was alive.”
“You don’t know what you’ve brought down on this family.”
“I know Lily gets to see her mother again.”
Patricia breathed into the phone for a moment.
“Emily has been confused for months,” she said. “When she tells you things, remember that.”
I looked through the glass at Emily’s hospital room.
“I remember what she told me before she got sick.”
Patricia ended the call.
May you like
A message from Claire arrived a minute later.
The medicine tray was empty when Grant and I reached the house.
