Chapter 4: Oliver's Room, 2 a.m.
The hospital corridor smelled of antiseptic and recycled air.
Oliver's room was small and very quiet.
A nurse had dimmed the overhead light.
The oxygen monitor beeped in a slow, steady rhythm.
Oliver was asleep.
His color had come back.
His breathing was even.
Maya sat in the chair beside the bed with her fingers wrapped around Oliver's small hand.
The dried bl00d beneath her nose had been cleaned away at triage.
A bruise was forming along her left cheekbone — dark and unmistakable.
Ryan sat across from her.
Neither of them had spoken in nearly an hour.
"She hjt you," he said finally.
Maya didn't look up from Oliver.
"Yes."
"With what?"
"Her hand.
Then she grabbed my arm and shoved me into the changing table." Maya paused.
"I was trying to get to the inhaler case.
I thought she'd just moved it.
I didn't understand yet that she'd taken it on purpose."
Ryan leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"When did you realize?"
"When she held up her bag and said, 'If you sign the papers, I'll give it back.'" Maya's voice was completely flat.
"That's when I understood."
The monitor beeped.
Oliver shifted in his sleep and pulled his blanket tighter.
"She offered it back," Ryan said.
"In exchange for your signature."
"For me to sign a statement saying I was struggling.
That I'd asked her for help managing Oliver.
That I'd agreed to a psychiatric evaluation voluntarily." Maya finally looked up.
"If I signed, she'd give him the inhaler and no one would ever know she'd taken it.
She said she had a doctor ready.
She said it would all be handled quietly."
Ryan stood up.
He walked to the window.
The parking lot below was nearly empty.
"And when you refused?"
"She put the bag on the dresser and walked to the camera.
She turned it slightly.
I didn't understand why until later." Maya's jaw tightened.
"She wanted the angle.
She wanted to make sure it caught me reaching for the bag.
So it would look like I was the one who had taken something."
Ryan turned from the window.
"She thought the camera was hers to control."
"Yes."
He crossed back to the chair beside her and sat down.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
"Daniel knew," Ryan said.
"I know."
"He's been in our house.
He's held Oliver.
He sat at our table at Christmas and he knew what she was building toward and he never said a word to me."
Maya looked at him carefully.
"What are you going to do?"
Ryan looked at his son.
Oliver's chest rose and fell.
One small hand was still curled around Maya's fingers.
"I'm going to find out how deep this goes," Ryan said.
"And then I'm going to make sure neither of them can get near him again."
His phone was on the bedside table.
It had buzzed three more times since he'd set it down at the house.
All three from Daniel.
The fourth message came in while they were sitting there.
*Ryan, I need to talk to you before you do something you can't take back.
Please.
It's not what you think.*
Ryan read it.
Set the phone back down.
"He wants to explain," Ryan said.
Maya said nothing.
"Should I hear him out?"
She looked at him for a long moment.
"That's your decision.
He's your brother."
Ryan picked up the phone.
Typed one line back.
*Come to the hospital.
Room 214.
Come alone.*
May you like
He set the phone down and looked at Oliver.
Whatever Daniel had to say, Ryan intended to hear every word of it — with a police officer waiting just outside the door.
