Chapter 4 - An Unlikely Ally in Uniform
By the third night, Leah had stopped sleeping. She spent hours pacing the perimeter of the carpet, testing the drywall, searching for any weakness in the room’s pristine construction. The air vent near the ceiling was screwed shut with industrial tamper-proof bolts.
At midnight, the electronic chime of the hallway door sounded softly.
The heavy lock clicked back with a mechanical whir, and the door swung open a few inches. Instead of Nathan or a hospital orderly, a tall woman in a crisp, midnight-blue nurse’s uniform slipped inside, kicking the door shut behind her with the toe of her sneaker.
Leah gasped, backing against the wall. “Who are you?”
“Keep your voice down,” the woman whispered sharply. Her face was lined with experience, her eyes sharp and intelligent beneath neatly pinned graying hair. “My name is Mae Rowland. I’ve worked this pavilion for fifteen years, and I’ve seen Doreen Carver pull this exact playbook twice before.”
Leah’s breath hitched. “Twice?”
“Ten years ago with Nathan’s oldest sister, and five years ago with a junior executive’s wife who discovered where the foundation was funneling its offshore donations,” Mae said, pulling a small, plastic-wrapped bundle from her deep pocket and tossing it onto the bed. “Eat this. You need your strength. They’ve been slipping mild sedatives into your meal trays to keep you docile for the commitment hearing tomorrow morning.”
Leah looked down at the package. It contained a protein bar and an untampered bottle of electrolyte water. “Tomorrow morning?”
“Doreen has a family court judge scheduled to sign an emergency temporary guardianship order at 9:00 AM,” Mae explained, her hands moving swiftly as she unclipped a master key card from her belt loop. “Once that ink dries, they’ll transfer you to a private psychiatric facility in rural Indiana, and your son will be legally adopted by Nathan under Doreen’s direct supervision. You’ll never see him again.”
“No,” Leah whispered, the despair she had felt days ago instantly calcifying into cold, hardened steel. “Not while I’m breathing.”
“Good,” Mae said grimly, walking over to the door and peering through the narrow glass slit into the hallway. “Because we’re going to move before their night shift supervisor does her rounds at two.”
May you like
Just as Mae reached for the handle, heavy, deliberate footsteps echoed on the tile outside.
“Hide!” Mae hissed, grabbing Leah’s arm and dragging her toward the small supply annex tucked behind the room’s private bathroom.
