Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN MY COAT
Vanessa was separated from Grant during questioning.
She remained inside a private family room while police examined the hospital footage.
The ivory maternity coat lay across an evidence table.
An officer searched the pockets.
He found lipstick.
A hotel key card.
A pharmacy receipt.
And a small plastic access badge.
The badge belonged to a temporary pharmacy employee named Rebecca Sloan.
Vanessa’s face went pale.
“I have never seen that.”
The officer placed it inside a clear evidence bag.
“It was inside the coat you were wearing.”
“Emma planted it.”
I almost laughed.
I had been unconscious in intensive care while Vanessa wore my clothes.
Grant turned toward her from across the hallway.
“Why do you have that badge?”
“I do not.”
“It was in the pocket.”
“You gave me the coat.”
Grant looked at me.
“I removed it from the apartment closet.”
“Did you check the pockets?” the officer asked.
“No.”
Vanessa began crying.
It was the first real emotion she had shown.
“Rebecca is my cousin.”
The police officer leaned closer.
“She works in the hospital pharmacy?”
“Temporarily.”
“Did she give you the badge?”
“No.”
“Did you ask her to access the NICU?”
“No.”
The officer opened the pharmacy receipt.
It listed a medication similar to the one found in Elise’s line.
The purchase occurred at a private clinic three weeks earlier.
The patient name had been blacked out.
The payment card belonged to Vanessa.
Grant stared at her.
“What did you do?”
She looked at him with sudden hatred.
“You told me the babies would not survive.”
The corridor became silent.
I felt my grandfather’s hand close around mine.
Grant lowered his voice.
“What are you talking about?”
“You said Emma’s complications were severe.”
“You said the twins would probably die.”
“I never told you to touch them.”
Vanessa stood.
“You told me everything would be easier if there were no custody issues.”
The police officer stepped between them.
“Both of you need to stop speaking.”
But the damage had been done.
Grant looked toward me.
“Emma, she is lying.”
I did not answer.
Vanessa continued before her attorney arrived.
“You said the company would become yours after the divorce.”
“You said we could move to California.”
“You said the twins were the only reason Emma’s grandfather might interfere.”
Grant moved toward her.
Security restrained him.
The officer ordered Vanessa’s phone seized.
Messages between them were recovered within hours.
Most were cruel.
Some were intimate.
One exchange occurred the night before my emergency delivery.
Vanessa wrote.
Are you sure the medication will cause labor?
Grant answered.
The doctor said it only increases risk.
Risk is enough.
My hands began shaking.
The placental abruption had not been random.
Someone had tampered with medication I was taking at home.
Grant had replaced my prescribed blood-pressure tablets with another drug.
He had not intended to kill me.
He had intended to trigger a medical crisis severe enough to make me dependent.
The twins had arrived eleven weeks early because of him.
Theodore read the messages once.
Then he turned to the officer.
“Arrest him.”
Grant pulled against security.
“You cannot arrest me based on private jokes.”
The officer placed him in handcuffs.
“Conspiracy to cause bodily harm is not a joke.”
Vanessa watched as he was led away.
Then the officer turned toward her.
She was handcuffed too.
May you like
The ivory coat remained on the table.
Noah’s and Elise’s initials were visible inside the lining.
