I looked at her wrinkled hands, her fingers moving with steady, practiced rhythm over the silver beads.
“The girls are at home with the sitter,” I said.
“For now,” Patricia said, her eyes fixed on my face. “But a phone call to the state registry can change many things before the sun goes down today.”
She stood up, smoothing the front of her cardigan with both hands.
“Daniel is speaking with his attorney now,” she said.
She left the curtain slightly open, a strip of bright hospital hallway visible through the gap.
I waited until the sound of Patricia’s low heels faded down the corridor before I swung my legs over the edge of the gurney. The cold tile floor stung the soles of my bare feet.
My small leather purse had been sitting on the plastic chair when they first brought me in from the car. Now, the chair was completely empty.
I pulled open the small drawer of the bedside table, hoping to find my phone.
There was nothing inside but a plastic cup and a paper menu for the hospital cafeteria.
I reached into the back of the drawer, my fingers scraping against the dry particle board.
Daniel had taken everything: my identification, my phone, and the key to the small savings box locked inside the local bank.
I was entirely cut off from Madison and Chloe, unable to call the house or the neighbor next door.
I leaned against the metal frame of the gurney, the cold steel pressing through my gown.
The empty drawer in the bedside table stared back at me, a hollow square where my life used to be.
I stared at the white ceiling tile directly above my head, counting the tiny grey pits in the plaster until my eyes burned.
My chest felt tight every time I took a breath, but the tears had finally stopped.
Patricia’s threat about losing custody of Madison and Chloe still hung in the air of the small hospital bay, cold and heavy.
I rolled my wedding band around my ring finger, feeling the smooth gold edge turn against my skin over and over.
I had to think clearly, without letting the fear take over.
I closed my eyes and pictured the low cinderblock wall separating our yard from the Henderson property next door.
Mr. Henderson had installed his security system in late July, mounting the small black camera under his garage eave.
