CHAPTER 7 THE TEST RESULTS
Three days after I was admitted to the hospital, the waiting became almost unbearable.
Every hour followed the same rhythm.
Blood pressure.
Blood tests.
Fetal monitoring.
Ultrasounds.
Then more waiting.
The nurses had begun to recognize us by name.
They smiled whenever they entered my room, but I had learned to read the truth in their eyes.
No one relaxed.
Not yet.
At seven-thirty that morning, Dr. Carter arrived carrying a thick envelope marked:
TOXICOLOGY REPORT
She looked tired.
She hadn't slept much either.
"I finally have the complete laboratory results."
Owen stood immediately.
"Please..."
"Just tell us."
Dr. Carter pulled up a chair.
"I'll tell you everything."
She opened the report.
"The counterfeit vitamins contained lead."
"We already knew that."
She nodded.
"But now we know how much."
She pointed to a graph.
"The amount varied from pill to pill."
"Some contained almost none."
"Others contained enough to become dangerous with repeated exposure."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"What about Sadie?"
Dr. Carter smiled.
"That's the remarkable part."
She laid another report beside the first.
"This is the baby's assessment."
Brain development...
Normal.
Heart...
Normal.
Kidneys...
Normal.
Liver...
Normal.
Blood flow...
Improving.
I stared at the pages.
"You mean..."
"So far, we have no evidence of permanent injury."
My eyes filled with tears.
Owen wrapped his arms around me as relief washed over us.
For the first time since the ambulance ride...
I allowed myself to believe that my daughter might truly be okay.
"But," Dr. Carter continued gently, "we still need to monitor her very closely."
She explained that lead exposure during pregnancy could sometimes affect a baby's development later in childhood.
"We can't promise there will never be consequences."
"But right now..."
She smiled.
"She's doing much better than we expected."
Just then...
Tap.
A tiny kick landed against the inside of my belly.
Then another.
Then another.
I gasped.
"Owen!"
He placed both hands against my stomach.
A second later...
Thunk.
His eyes widened.
"I felt it!"
Another kick.
Stronger this time.
It was as if Sadie had been waiting for the good news before announcing herself.
Dr. Carter laughed softly.
"I think someone wants everyone's attention."
For several wonderful minutes...
The room filled with nothing but laughter and tiny kicks.
Across town...
Detective Brooks received another forensic report.
This one wasn't about the vitamins.
It was about Lorraine's phone.
The digital forensics team had recovered files that Lorraine thought she'd erased forever.
One technician pointed toward the screen.
"There's something unusual."
"What?"
"Every video has been edited."
"Edited how?"
He opened the original recording from the garage.
Then the uploaded version.
They looked identical.
Until he slowed the footage.
Frame by frame.
At the exact moment Maren reached for Owen's phone...
Three seconds had been removed.
Brooks frowned.
"What happened during those three seconds?"
The technician restored the deleted frames.
The recovered footage appeared.
Maren wasn't trying to grab the phone.
She was pointing toward her stomach.
She had whispered something.
The audio was faint.
The technician increased the volume.
"...Sadie hasn't moved..."
The room fell silent.
Brooks watched the clip again.
Then again.
Lorraine had deliberately removed the part where Maren asked for help.
Instead...
The published version made it appear as though Maren only wanted to stop Owen from calling an ambulance.
"She changed the entire meaning," Brooks murmured.
Another technician called from the opposite side of the lab.
"I found metadata."
"What kind?"
"GPS coordinates."
Every video Lorraine recorded contained hidden location data.
Most were taken at the Hayes family home.
Some at the hospital.
But three videos...
Came from somewhere else.
The coordinates pointed to the abandoned warehouse where the counterfeit vitamins had been manufactured.
Brooks stared at the map.
"Lorraine was there."
Not once.
Three separate times.
At the police station...
Lorraine's attorney looked increasingly concerned.
"The police have evidence placing you at the warehouse."
"I never went inside."
"They have GPS records."
"I stayed in the parking lot."
"Why?"
Lorraine hesitated.
"I was picking up packages."
"What packages?"
She looked down.
"I didn't ask."
The attorney sighed.
"You should have."
Meanwhile...
The cybercrime division finally made progress identifying CROWKEEPER.
Not a name.
Not yet.
But a pattern.
The anonymous account had logged in from libraries.
Coffee shops.
Hotels.
Different cities.
Always public Wi-Fi.
Always careful.
Except once.
One login had lasted only thirty-two seconds before disconnecting.
Long enough for investigators to capture the device name.
RK-MEDIA-01
The analyst searched commercial databases.
A match appeared.
The laptop had once been registered to a small digital media company.
Raven Knight Media.
The company had dissolved three years earlier after being sued for producing staged viral videos disguised as real events.
Its founder had disappeared before the civil trial.
Detective Brooks studied the old company records.
One photograph caught her attention.
The founder smiled confidently into the camera.
His name was...
Richard Kane.
Underneath the photo, another line read:
"Known online aliases include: CrowKeeper."
At last...
The mysterious account had a face.
That evening, Brooks drove to the hospital.
She found Owen standing alone outside the maternity ward, looking through the nursery window where newborns slept peacefully.
"They're beautiful," he said quietly.
"They are."
"I used to think the hardest part of becoming a father would be changing diapers."
Brooks smiled faintly.
"I think every first-time parent believes that."
He turned toward her.
"Did you find him?"
She nodded.
"We know who CrowKeeper is."
"Can you arrest him?"
"Not yet."
"But we're getting close."
She handed Owen a photograph of Richard Kane.
Owen studied the man's face.
Nothing seemed familiar.
Then...
His expression changed.
"I've seen him before."
Brooks looked up sharply.
"Where?"
Owen frowned, searching his memory.
"He wasn't introduced to me."
"But..."
"I remember Lorraine talking to him."
"When?"
"At a charity fundraiser."
"About four months ago."
He looked back at the photograph.
"I thought he was just another guest."
Brooks carefully slipped the picture back into the file.
"He wasn't."
She looked toward the maternity ward, where tiny infants slept behind glass.
"He was choosing his next story."
And for the first time, the investigation shifted beyond Lorraine.
The woman who had betrayed Maren was no longer the only suspect.
She had been a willing participant.
May you like
But someone else had been writing the script all along.
End of Chapter 7
