Chapter 1 - THE YELLOW BOOT
Dean never reached the bed.
Officer Carla Jimenez caught him around the shoulder while hospital security blocked his path.
“Let me go!”
“That is my daughter!”
Laura pulled Ava closer.
“No.”
It was the second time she had said that word to her husband.
The second time seemed harder.
But stronger.
Dean stared at her as though she had suddenly begun speaking a language he did not recognize.
“You’re coming home with me.”
Laura shook her head.
“No.”
Ava was crying harder now.
“Mommy.”
“Please.”
“It’s moving.”
Laura looked down.
The yellow rubber boot on Ava’s right foot twitched faintly against the mattress.
Not because Ava was moving.
Something inside it was vibrating.
Once.
Stopped.
Then again.
Dean saw it.
The rage disappeared from his face.
For one brief second, he looked afraid.
“Don’t touch that boot.”
Dr. Nina Patel looked at him.
Then at Ava.
“Why?”
Dean answered too quickly.
“She has swelling.”
“Taking it off will hurt her.”
Ava shook her head desperately.
“Cut it.”
“Please cut it.”
Nina picked up trauma shears.
Dean lunged again.
That was enough.
Carla forced his arms behind him.
“Sir, stop.”
“You are interfering with medical care.”
Dean shouted at Laura.
“Tell them!”
Laura was staring at the boot.
Her entire body trembled.
“I don’t know what’s inside.”
Dean stopped shouting.
Nina cut through the yellow rubber.
Ava whimpered.
The boot opened along one side.
Mud fell onto the white sheet.
Then something black slid out from between Ava’s sock and the rubber lining.
A phone.
Not a normal smartphone.
A small black prepaid phone wrapped in a plastic sandwich bag.
Its screen flashed.
17 MISSED CALLS.
The contact name read.
DAD.
No one spoke.
Dean’s face lost all color.
Carla looked from the phone to him.
“You said you didn’t know what was inside.”
Dean swallowed.
“I don’t.”
Ava whispered.
“Yes, you do.”
Every adult in the room turned toward her.
It was the first full sentence she had spoken since arriving.
Dean stared at his daughter.
“Ava.”
Her fingers closed around Laura’s sweater.
“Don’t let Daddy take it.”
Dean’s voice sharpened.
“She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
Ava began crying.
“He told me to give it back.”
Laura looked at her daughter.
“What phone is this?”
Ava’s lower lip shook.
“I found it.”
“Where?”
“In Daddy’s drawer.”
Dean shouted.
“She was going through my things!”
Carla turned.
“Mr. Mercer.”
“Stop talking.”
Dr. Patel picked up the phone using gloves.
It vibrated again.
A message appeared.
DEAN.
ANSWER ME.
Then another.
IF ANYONE OPENS THAT PHONE, WE ARE BOTH FINISHED.
Laura stared at the screen.
“Who sent that?”
The number had no name.
Dean did not answer.
He looked toward the exit.
Carla noticed.
“So now you want to leave?”
Dean’s jaw tightened.
“You have no right to search my property.”
Carla replied calmly.
“The phone was concealed on an injured six-year-old who is asking hospital staff to protect it from you.”
“I think we’re past ordinary property questions.”
Ava tugged Laura’s sleeve.
“Mommy.”
Laura bent down.
Ava whispered.
“I heard Daddy say you were going away.”
Laura froze.
“What?”
“He said after I fell again.”
The room became very still.
Dean closed his eyes.
Only for a second.
But everyone saw it.
Ava continued.
“He said if I fell again, everybody would think you did it.”
May you like
Laura stopped breathing.
And suddenly the broken arm was no longer the most frightening thing in the room.
