Chapter 4 - REBECCA HARRIS
Rebecca Harris reached the hospital at 3:11 a.m.
Forty-four.
Red coat thrown over pajamas.
No makeup.
Hair wet from snow.
Security called me because she was demanding to know whether Caleb was alive.
I found her near pediatric ICU.
“You’re Dr. Jenkins?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Caleb’s aunt.”
“Can you verify identity?”
She shoved her driver’s license toward me.
“I’ve been trying to see him for a year.”
“Why couldn’t you?”
“Martha.”
Her hands shook.
“My brother died three years ago.”
“Caleb’s father?”
“Yes. Andrew.”
“How?”
“Cancer.”
She swallowed.
“He made me promise I’d watch Caleb.”
“Why haven’t you?”
“Martha cut me off after the funeral.”
“Legal order?”
“No.”
“Then why not seek visitation?”
“I did.”
Rebecca looked humiliated.
“Court dismissed the first petition. I wasn’t a parent. Then Martha moved twice.”
“Why did Martha tell police you hurt Caleb?”
Rebecca stared.
“What?”
“She said ask what you did to him.”
Her expression changed from grief to anger.
“I saw him six weeks ago.”
“When?”
“School science night.”
“Were you permitted?”
“Public event.”
“What happened?”
“He hugged me.”
She started crying.
“Then he whispered that his arm hurt.”
“Before the fracture?”
“Yes.”
My pulse changed.
“How long before?”
“Maybe four days.”
“Did you see an injury?”
“He had bruises.”
“Where?”
“Upper arm.”
Patterned bruising.
“Did you ask?”
“He said Greg grabbed him.”
“Who’s Greg?”
May you like
Martha’s boyfriend.
There it was.
