Chapter 1 - THE SMELL IN THE CUP
The paramedics arrived four minutes after Mark made the call.
Those four minutes felt longer than the seven years I had been Emma’s mother.
One paramedic lifted her from my arms while another placed a clear mask over her face.
Emma’s head rolled weakly toward me.
“Mommy,” she whispered.
“I’m here, baby.”
My voice cracked despite every effort to keep it steady.
“I’m right here.”
Mark handed the unicorn cup to the lead paramedic.
“Seal this.”
The paramedic looked at him.
“Why?”
“There’s something in it.”
Rachel stood behind the kitchen island with both hands covering her mouth.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said.
“It was lemonade.”
Mark turned toward her.
“What did you put in it?”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
“Nothing.”
“You just admitted you made it.”
“I poured lemonade into a cup.”
“She’s seven years old, Mark.”
“Why would I hurt her?”
Emma’s body jerked on the stretcher.
The paramedics moved faster.
One asked whether she took any prescription medication.
I shook my head.
“She takes a children’s allergy pill sometimes.”
“That’s all.”
Mark caught the paramedic’s arm.
“Check for a sedative.”
Everyone in the kitchen went silent.
The paramedic stared at him.
“Why would you say that?”
Mark’s face changed.
It was only for a second, but I saw it.
Fear.
Not surprise.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“You know what’s in that cup,” I whispered.
Mark looked at me.
“Claire, we have to get to the hospital.”
“How do you know?”
He did not answer.
The stretcher rolled through the front door.
I ran after it.
Behind me, I heard my mother asking Rachel what she had done.
Rachel began crying.
David, Rachel’s husband, demanded that everyone stop accusing her.
My father stood frozen beside Emma’s birthday cake.
None of them followed us immediately.
Mark climbed into the ambulance with me.
The doors slammed shut.
As the siren began, I looked at the man I had trusted for eleven years.
“Tell me the truth.”
Mark glanced at the paramedics.
“Not here.”
“Our daughter may be dying.”
His eyes filled with guilt.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve smelled that in something Emma drank.”
The ambulance seemed to tilt beneath me.
“What do you mean?”
Mark reached for my hand.
May you like
I pulled away.
“Six weeks ago, I found the same cloudy residue in her bedtime milk.”
