Chapter 4 - THE MISSING RECORD
The backup power activated.
The fetal monitor returned first.
My daughter’s heartbeat filled the room.
Fast.
Alive.
The computer remained dark.
Dr. Collins pressed the call button.
Nothing happened.
The nurse opened the door.
The hallway lights worked, but the nurses’ station screens were frozen.
Someone had shut down the medical record system for the entire floor.
Dr. Collins used her personal phone.
“Call hospital administration. No internal lines.”
The nurse hurried away.
I gripped the blanket.
“Ryan did this?”
“He could not do it alone.”
Dr. Collins pulled paper copies from my chart.
Fresh lab results.
Old discharge summaries.
One page contained Dr. Mercer’s signature.
Patient denies trauma.
Husband reports accidental fall.
I stared at it.
“I never saw Mercer that night.”
“What night?”
“The night Ryan pushed me down the stairs.”
Dr. Collins looked at the date.
“You were twenty-four weeks pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You came to this hospital?”
“Ryan drove me.”
“What happened?”
“I woke up at home.”
“You do not remember being discharged?”
“No.”
The white pill.
Always before the missing hours.
The nurse returned with a hospital administrator and two security officers.
“Dr. Mercer is not in his office,” she said.
Dr. Collins’ eyes narrowed.
“Where is Ryan?”
Security checked the radio.
“He was taken to the public waiting area. His attorney arrived. They left five minutes ago.”
My stomach dropped.
“You let him leave?”
“He was not under arrest.”
Dr. Collins turned to the administrator.
“Lock access to this floor. Preserve all surveillance footage. Contact police.”
The administrator hesitated.
“On what basis?”
“Suspected poisoning, domestic violence, medical record tampering, and fetal endangerment.”
The administrator looked at me.
The bruises.
The swollen eye.
The cuts on my legs.
He stopped hesitating.
The ultrasound technician entered with a portable machine.
Dr. Collins applied gel to my stomach.
My daughter appeared on the screen.
Head down.
Tiny hands near her face.
Then Dr. Collins stopped moving the probe.
“What?”
She adjusted the image.
Blood flow patterns appeared in red and blue.
Her jaw tightened.
“The placenta is showing signs of reduced circulation.”
“From the blood pressure?”
“Possibly.”
The technician pointed toward a dark area near the placental edge.
Dr. Collins leaned closer.
“Have you had bleeding?”
“Small amounts.”
“How often?”
“Ryan said it was normal.”
The doctor’s expression became colder.
“It is not.”
She pressed gently along my abdomen.
Pain shot through my right side.
I cried out.
Dr. Collins ordered an immediate transfer to labor and delivery.
As the nurse disconnected the blood pressure cuff, something fell from beneath the mattress.
A small white tablet.
The same shape as the pills Ryan gave me.
The nurse picked it up with forceps.
“How did that get here?”
I looked toward the locked door.
Ryan had stood beside the bed before security removed him.
Dr. Collins sealed the pill inside a specimen bag.
“He tried to make sure your blood level stayed high.”
The administrator’s phone rang.
His face changed as he listened.
“What happened?” Dr. Collins asked.
He lowered the phone.
“Dr. Mercer’s car was found in the parking garage.”
“And Mercer?”
May you like
“Missing.”
The security camera inside the garage had recorded him getting into Ryan’s truck.
