Chapter 2 — What Was Hidden Inside the Cast The room fell silent as the cast split open. Crack. A foul smell escaped first. Then something black slid between the layers of padding. One of the nurses gasped. It wasn't bone. It wasn't blood. It was a tightly wrapped plastic pouch, taped against Noah's forearm beneath the cast. Evelyn carefully peeled it away. Inside were dozens of tiny steel pellets, rough pieces of broken glass, and several powerful industrial magnets sealed together with duct tape. Daniel stared in disbelief. "What... is this?" Noah burst into tears. "It kept moving." The doctor examined the inside of the cast. His expression darkened. "This wasn't an accident." He pointed to the magnets. "Every time the child moved his arm, these shifted against the broken bone." The room froze. "Someone intentionally placed them inside before the cast hardened." Daniel slowly turned toward Marissa. Her face had lost every trace of color. "You said you stayed with him the entire time at the emergency clinic." Marissa swallowed. "I... I did." The orthopedic surgeon shook his head. "Impossible." "Our records show the child's father signed the admission papers, but during the casting procedure only one adult remained in the room." Daniel frowned. "I wasn't there." "I left to pick up Noah's insurance card." Everyone looked at Marissa. For the first time, she had no explanation. Two police officers, already in the hospital investigating possible child abuse after Evelyn's report, quietly stepped inside the room. One of them sealed the plastic pouch into an evidence bag. Marissa forced a nervous laugh. "Someone must have made a mistake." But Evelyn wasn't looking at the cast anymore. She was staring at Noah's wrist. Beneath the padding was an old bruise. A bruise shaped exactly like someone's hand. And suddenly, she remembered something she had seen three nights earlier.

2 chapters