Chapter 3 - Room 304
The pediatric floor smelled of disinfectant, warm blankets, and fear.
Sarah hated hospitals.
She hated the quiet footsteps.
She hated the machines.
Most of all, she hated seeing her daughter attached to them.
Room 304 was near the end of the hallway.
Sarah stopped outside the window.
Lily looked impossibly small beneath the white blankets.
Her right arm was wrapped in a cast.
Dark bruising covered the side of her face.
A monitor beside the bed displayed her heartbeat in glowing green lines.
Sarah entered quietly.
She pulled a plastic chair beside the bed and sat down.
For several seconds, she did nothing.
Then she reached beneath the blanket and took Lily's left hand.
It was warm.
Sarah closed her eyes.
She remembered Lily laughing that morning because she had accidentally poured too much syrup over her pancakes.
She remembered fixing her ponytail before school.
She remembered Lily running toward the academy doors.
"Love you, Mommy."
Those words now felt like they belonged to another lifetime.
Sarah kissed her daughter's fingers.
"I'm here."
Lily did not wake.
A nurse entered.
"Detective Vance?"
Sarah nodded.
"How is she?"
"The concussion is serious, but the scans are encouraging."
"And her arm?"
"Clean fracture."
The nurse checked the IV.
"She'll need time."
Sarah looked at Lily.
"Did she wake up?"
"Briefly in the ambulance."
"Did she say anything?"
The nurse hesitated.
Sarah immediately noticed.
"What did she say?"
"She kept repeating one sentence."
Sarah's grip tightened around Lily's hand.
"What sentence?"
The nurse looked uncomfortable.
"She said, 'He pushed me.'"
Sarah felt something cold move through her chest.
"Did the paramedics document that?"
"They should have."
Sarah nodded.
That mattered.
A spontaneous statement made while Lily was injured and frightened could become important later.
She stood.
The nurse looked surprised.
"You're leaving?"
"I have to."
Sarah bent over Lily.
She kissed her forehead gently.
"I promise I'm coming back."
Then she whispered something only her daughter could hear.
"And when you wake up, you won't have to be afraid of him anymore."
Sarah walked toward the door.
Behind her, one of the monitors continued its steady rhythm.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Each sound felt like a countdown.
May you like
Because somewhere in the city, Marcus Thorne was already moving.
And Sarah knew powerful men did their most dangerous work while everyone else was grieving.
