CHAPTER 3 LORRAINE'S SECRET RECORDING
Rain began tapping against the hospital windows just after sunset.
The soft rhythm should have been comforting.
Instead, every drop sounded like a countdown.
I lay motionless in the hospital bed while the fetal monitor traced tiny green peaks across the screen.
Sadie's heartbeat remained strong.
One hundred forty-seven beats per minute.
Steady.
Beautiful.
Yet she still hadn't kicked.
Not once.
Dr. Carter had explained that babies sometimes conserve energy when they're under stress, especially if the placenta isn't delivering enough oxygen or nutrients.
"We're watching her very closely," she'd assured me.
But "watching" didn't erase fear.
Every hour without movement felt like another hour slipping through my fingers.
Owen sat beside the bed, elbows on his knees.
He hadn't spoken much since the counterfeit vitamins were discovered.
He kept replaying the past six weeks in his head.
"I should've noticed."
"You couldn't have."
"I should've bought your vitamins myself."
"You trusted Lorraine."
He looked away.
"Yeah."
His voice was barely audible.
"I trusted my sister."
A gentle knock interrupted us.
Detective Hannah Brooks stepped into the room.
She wore plain clothes instead of a uniform, carrying a leather notebook tucked beneath one arm.
"I'm sorry to disturb you."
Her tone was calm.
"The hospital asked us to speak with you regarding the counterfeit medication."
She pulled up a chair.
"I only need a few minutes."
I nodded.
"Can you tell me exactly where those vitamins came from?"
"Lorraine gave them to me."
"When?"
"About six weeks ago."
"Did she say where she bought them?"
"A neighborhood pharmacy."
"Do you remember which one?"
I shook my head.
"No."
Detective Brooks scribbled a note.
"Did anyone else know you were taking them?"
"I don't think so."
She paused.
"What about the cravings?"
I hesitated.
"No one."
Then...
"I guess Lorraine did."
The detective looked up.
"How?"
"I caught her watching me in the backyard."
"When?"
"About three weeks ago."
"What happened?"
The memory returned with startling clarity.
I had been kneeling beside the flower beds.
Rain had soaked the soil until it smelled strangely irresistible.
I remember glancing around.
Thinking I was alone.
Then taking a tiny handful of dirt.
Before I could stop myself...
I'd swallowed it.
When I looked toward the kitchen window...
Lorraine was standing there.
Watching.
She didn't say anything.
She just smiled.
A slow...
Quiet...
Unsettling smile.
"Did she confront you?" Detective Brooks asked.
"No."
"Did she mention it later?"
"No."
"Did she ever offer help?"
I laughed bitterly.
"No."
Instead...
She had started bringing me little gifts.
Cookies.
Tea.
Soup.
And those vitamins.
Detective Brooks closed her notebook.
"Thank you."
As she stood to leave, Owen stopped her.
"Do you think someone intentionally gave my wife fake vitamins?"
The detective didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she asked a question.
"Does Lorraine have any financial problems?"
Owen blinked.
"What?"
"It's a routine question."
He frowned.
"I... don't know."
Then his expression slowly changed.
"Actually..."
"What?"
"She borrowed money from me."
"How much?"
"Almost thirty thousand dollars."
The detective's eyebrows lifted.
"And?"
"She never paid it back."
After the detective left, the room fell silent again.
Neither of us noticed the tiny black object tucked beneath the windowsill.
Smaller than a coin.
Almost invisible.
Its tiny red light blinked once.
Then went dark.
Across the hall...
Lorraine sat alone in the visitors' lounge.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't worried.
She was editing.
On her phone screen played the video she'd recorded in the garage.
Frame by frame.
She zoomed in on the white powder around my lips.
Adjusted the brightness.
Sharpened the image.
Then added dramatic music.
Across the screen she typed:
PREGNANT WOMAN SECRETLY EATS UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE
Below it...
HUSBAND DISCOVERS SHOCKING ADDICTION
She smiled.
"This will explode online."
She hit Upload.
Within minutes...
Likes.
Comments.
Shares.
Thousands.
Her phone buzzed continuously.
"Poor husband."
"She shouldn't be a mother."
"Someone save that baby."
"So disgusting."
Each comment made Lorraine smile a little wider.
Until...
One new notification appeared.
Not from social media.
From an unknown email.
There was no subject line.
Only one sentence.
Delete the video.
Lorraine frowned.
She ignored it.
Another message arrived.
Delete it now.
She rolled her eyes.
"Nice try."
She blocked the sender.
Then another email arrived.
Different address.
Same sentence.
Delete the video.
A third.
A fourth.
A fifth.
Every few seconds...
Another anonymous account.
Always the same message.
Delete the video.
Delete the video.
Delete the video.
Her smile faded.
Meanwhile...
Detective Brooks walked into the hospital security office.
"I need surveillance footage."
The security manager nodded.
"What time?"
"From the moment Mrs. Hayes arrived."
They rewound the recordings.
Ambulance entrance.
Emergency hallway.
Waiting room.
Visitor elevators.
There was Lorraine.
Walking in.
Walking out.
Walking back again.
Nothing unusual.
Then Brooks paused the video.
"Go back."
Frame by frame.
Lorraine stopped outside Maren's hospital room.
She looked around carefully.
Reached beneath the windowsill.
Bent down for exactly three seconds.
Then walked away.
Brooks narrowed her eyes.
"Zoom in."
The image became grainy.
Tiny.
But visible.
Lorraine had placed something under the windowsill.
"What is that?"
The security manager couldn't tell.
Brooks didn't wait.
"Let's go."
Five minutes later...
A hospital technician unscrewed the lower edge of the windowsill.
Something dropped into his hand.
A miniature digital voice recorder.
Still running.
Still recording.
Brooks stared at it.
"It wasn't there yesterday."
The technician nodded.
"No."
She slipped the recorder into an evidence bag.
"Now we know."
"What?"
Brooks looked toward my room.
"Someone wanted to hear every conversation inside."
At the same moment...
Owen's phone vibrated.
It was a message from an unknown number.
He almost ignored it.
Then he opened it.
Attached was a single photograph.
A recent one.
Taken only hours earlier.
It showed him sitting beside my hospital bed...
Holding my hand.
The picture had been taken...
From outside the hospital window.
Below the image were only six words.
She's not the one lying.
Owen stared at the screen.
His pulse quickened.
Who had taken the photograph?
Who was watching them?
And if Maren wasn't the one lying...
May you like
Then who was?
End of Chapter 3
