Chapter 3 - THE LOCKED DRAWER
Noah remained under observation overnight.
Daniel left after the detective questioned him.
Margaret refused to answer questions without an attorney.
Claire did not sleep.
At two in the morning, Noah woke and asked for water.
At three, he asked why Grandma had given him “the bad cake.”
Claire swallowed hard.
“She made a dangerous mistake.”
Noah stared at her.
“Daddy said eat it.”
Claire stopped.
“What?”
Noah touched the edge of his blanket.
“Daddy said Grandma cake good.”
Claire leaned closer.
“When did Daddy say that?”
“At home.”
“Today?”
Noah nodded.
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What exactly did Daddy say?”
Noah thought very seriously.
The way toddlers did when trying to find the right words.
“Daddy said don’t be baby.”
Claire felt the air leave her lungs.
“Did Daddy tell you to eat Grandma’s dessert?”
Another nod.
“Grandma said surprise.”
Claire did not question him further.
She pressed the call button.
The nurse came.
Claire asked for Detective Alvarez.
By sunrise, the detective was back.
A child-interview specialist was arranged for later.
Claire told Alvarez everything Noah had said.
The detective listened without reacting.
Then she asked a question Claire was not prepared for.
“Mrs. Hawthorne, does your husband have access to your son’s medication?”
“Of course.”
“Could he remove it?”
Claire remembered the dining table.
The stuck zipper.
The injector she had found.
One injector.
She always carried two.
Her blood went cold.
“There should have been two.”
Alvarez’s eyes sharpened.
“Where was the second?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could it have fallen out?”
“No.”
Claire’s voice cracked.
“I check that bag every morning.”
Alvarez wrote something down.
“When were both injectors last confirmed?”
“This morning.”
Claire suddenly remembered something else.
The locked drawer.
Three days earlier, she had reached for the spare injector in the kitchen because the expiration date needed checking.
The drawer had been empty.
She had assumed Daniel moved it.
When she asked, he told her he had placed it in the hall cabinet.
She found one there.
Only one.
Claire reached for her phone.
She opened the security camera application.
Daniel had installed cameras throughout the lower floor after a burglary two years earlier.
Most recordings automatically deleted after seven days.
Claire pulled up the kitchen footage.
Three days earlier.
7:14 a.m.
Daniel entered the kitchen alone.
He opened the medication drawer.
He removed two EpiPens.
He placed one in the hall cabinet.
The other disappeared into his jacket pocket.
Claire stared at the screen.
Detective Alvarez leaned closer.
“Send that to me.”
Claire did.
The detective stood.
“Do not go home alone.”
Claire looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because we’re no longer investigating whether your mother-in-law made a reckless choice.”
Alvarez closed her notebook.
“We’re investigating whether two adults deliberately reduced your son’s access to emergency medication before exposing him to an allergen.”
Claire’s hands began to shake.
She stared through the glass toward Noah.
Then her phone buzzed.
A message from Daniel.
COME HOME.
WE CAN FIX THIS.
A second message arrived.
IF YOU KEEP TALKING TO POLICE, YOU’LL LOSE NOAH.
Then a photograph appeared.
It showed a file folder lying on Daniel’s desk.
Across the tab were two words.
May you like
CUSTODY PETITION.
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