Detective Harris was waiting in a small consultation room near the emergency department.
He looked exhausted, but his attention was sharp. He carried a notebook beneath one arm and kept glancing at the pink bottle sitting on the table between us.
“Mrs. Morgan,” he said, “I need you to answer some questions carefully.”
“About Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
“We'll get to him.”
I sat down.
“What did the laboratory find?”
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he pointed at the bottle.
“Where did you get that?”
“It belongs to Sophie.”
“Who gave it to her?”
“My ex-husband.”
“Eric Morgan?”
“Yes.”
“How long has she been taking it?”
“About three weeks.”
“Every day?”
“I believe so.”
His pen stopped.
“You believe so?”
“She took it when she was at Eric's house. I didn't administer it.”
“Did you ever look inside the bottle?”
“No.”
“Did you ask what was in it?”
“He said vitamins.”
“And you trusted him.”
The question sounded less like an accusation than a fact.
“Yes.”
Harris wrote something down.
“The preliminary toxicology result suggests this isn't a standard vitamin supplement.”
My mouth went dry.
“What is it?”
“We don't have the complete identification yet.”
“Then what do you know?”
“That we have reason to believe Sophie has been exposed to something that wasn't represented on the label.”
I stood.
“My daughter has elevated hCG. She's been sick. She's been complaining about headaches and vomiting. Now you're telling me the medicine her father gave her may not be medicine at all.”
“We're still testing it.”
“Then arrest him.”
Harris looked at me steadily.
“That's not how this works.”
“Eric just accused Daniel of hurting her.”
“I know.”
“He told the police to arrest him.”
“I know.”
“And you're investigating a bottle Eric gave my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Then why is Eric not sitting here?”
“He is being interviewed downstairs.”
I stared at him.
“He's downstairs?”
“For now.”
I turned toward the door.
“Mrs. Morgan.”
I stopped.
“There is another matter.”
I looked back.
“We reviewed Sophie's hospital records.”
My pulse quickened.
“What about them?”
“She was here three months ago.”
“No, she wasn't.”
“She was.”
“I would know.”
“She came through pediatric urgent care with dizziness and vomiting.”
I shook my head.
“That must be someone else.”
“It wasn't.”
He opened the file.
“You weren't listed as the accompanying adult.”
My hands went cold.
“Who was?”
Harris met my eyes.
“Eric.”
A memory surfaced so suddenly that it made me dizzy.
Three months earlier, Sophie had come home from one of Eric's weekends pale and tired. She'd complained about a headache and spent most of Sunday on the couch.
I had asked Eric about it.
He told me she'd probably eaten too much junk food while camping.
Then there had been the bruise on her arm.
A week later, another headache.
The school nurse had called twice.
I had believed every explanation because every explanation sounded ordinary.
Harris closed the file.
“Has anyone besides you ever given Sophie medication?”
I looked at the bottle.
“Yes,” I said slowly.
“What?”
“A syringe.”
He straightened.
“A syringe?”
“I saw one at Eric's house.”
“When?”
“About a month ago.”
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“I had gone to pick Sophie up early. Eric was standing at the kitchen counter with a syringe.”
“What did you see inside it?”
“I couldn't tell.”
“Did you see a label?”
“No.”
“Did you ask him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That Sophie had a vitamin deficiency.”
“And you believed him.”
Again, there was no judgment in Harris's voice.
That almost made it worse.
“Yes.”
“What did he do with the syringe?”
“He put it in a drawer.”
“Which drawer?”
“The kitchen.”
Harris was already reaching for his phone.
“I'll need a warrant for the house.”
I stared at him.
“If Eric didn't hurt her, why would he be giving her something secretly?”
Harris paused.
“We don't know.”
Then he looked directly at me.
“But whatever has been happening to Sophie didn't begin tonight.”
Two hours later, I found Daniel sitting alone beneath a vending machine.
Eric was gone.
Daniel rose when he saw me.
“How is she?”
I didn't answer.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
“Eric accused you.”
“I know.”
“He wanted the police to arrest you.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I don't know what he's doing.”
I studied him.
“Have you ever given Sophie medication?”
“No.”
“Have you ever taken her somewhere alone?”
“No.”
“Have you ever been alone with her without me knowing?”
“Never.”
His voice was immediate.
He sat back down.
“I know what this looks like.”
“What does it look like?”
“Like you should suspect me.”
I said nothing.
He rubbed his palms against his jeans.
“So ask me everything.”
I did.
He answered every question.
He told me he had never taken Sophie anywhere alone, never administered medicine, and never crossed a physical boundary with her. He said he had always been especially careful because Eric had been protective and suspicious of him.
When he finished, I remained standing.
“Then why does Eric hate you?”
Daniel looked toward the closed hospital room.
“Because I confronted him.”
“About what?”
“Three months ago, I saw him taking Sophie somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You followed them?”
“I followed Eric.”
“That is my daughter.”
“I know.”
“You should have told me.”
“I should have.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because I didn't know what I was seeing.”
I folded my arms.
“Tell me now.”
Daniel took a slow breath.
“I saw Eric meet a man behind a medical office.”
“What man?”
“I never got close enough to identify him.”
“Why was Eric there?”
“I don't know.”
“And Sophie?”
“She was with him.”
The hallway seemed to narrow around me.
“You saw my daughter there?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Outside the city. A private medical building.”
“You didn't tell me?”
“I was afraid I'd accuse him without proof.”
“You should have told me anyway.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“But I did notice something else.”
“What?”
“Eric wasn't alone the second time I saw him.”
“With whom?”
“A woman.”
“What kind of woman?”
“Doctor, I think.”
Before I could ask another question, a physician hurried toward us.
“Mrs. Morgan?”
I turned.
“Yes?”
“We need you upstairs.”
“Why?”
The doctor was pale.
“Sophie's condition has changed.”
“What happened?”
“She started bleeding.”
Daniel stood.
“Is she stable?”
“We don't know yet.”
Then we heard Sophie's voice from the room.
“Mom!”
I ran.
The sheets beneath her were stained red.
A nurse was trying to steady her while Dr. Ortiz stared at the ultrasound monitor.
I reached the bedside.
“Sophie.”
She grabbed my wrist.
“It hurts.”
“I know.”
Dr. Ortiz didn't look away from the screen.
Her face had gone still.
“What is it?” I asked.
She pointed at the monitor.
“This isn't a pregnancy.”
“I know that.”
“No,” she said quietly. “You need to look.”
I stared at the image.
I couldn't understand any of it.
Dr. Ortiz finally turned toward me.
“There is a mass.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: The Scan Revealed a Problem No One Had Expected, While a Search of Eric’s Home Exposed How Carefully He Had Been Watching His Daughter
The Test That Should Have Been Impossible Left Me With a Terrifying Question About the Man I Trusted Most
Part 2 of 12
