Chapter 2 - Two Patients in the Same Hospital
At Riverside Children’s Medical Center, Clara was taken into treatment immediately. Noah received water, soup, and a warm blanket, although he refused to eat until a nurse promised his sister was being helped.
Caleb had just finished speaking with a hospital social worker when a white American police detective named Rebecca Sloan approached him. She was in her early forties, with auburn hair pulled into a practical knot and a calm manner that made her seriousness more noticeable.
“Mr. Whitaker, I need to speak with you about Meredith.”
Caleb stood.
“Have you found her?”
Rebecca glanced toward Noah before lowering her voice.
“She was brought here three nights ago. A maintenance worker found her near an unused service road by the Scioto River. She had no purse, phone, or identification, and she has been unconscious for most of that time.”
Caleb stared at her.
“That can’t be right. She was supposed to be with the children.”
Before Rebecca could respond, Clara’s physician entered the waiting area. He explained that the little girl had a serious infection and severe dehydration, but her temperature was falling and she was responding to treatment.
“You brought her in just in time,” he said.
The words weakened Caleb’s knees. He covered his face briefly, then asked to see her.
Clara looked impossibly small beneath the hospital blanket. When her eyes opened, she recognized him immediately.
“Daddy?”
Caleb bent over her and kissed her damp forehead.
“I’m right here, sweetheart.”
“I waited for you.”
“I know. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
Noah climbed onto the chair beside the bed.
“I called him, Clara.”
She turned toward her brother.
“I heard you talking. I just couldn’t open my eyes.”
Noah began to cry, and Caleb held him with one arm while keeping Clara’s hand in the other.
A few minutes later, Clara whispered, “The man with the shiny shoes came to our house.”
Detective Sloan, standing near the doorway, stepped closer.
“What man, honey?”
“He yelled at Mommy. He said she took something from him.”
Caleb felt the room tighten around him.
“What did your mother say?”
Clara’s eyelids fluttered.
May you like
“She said she gave it to the one person he would never search.”
Then she fell asleep again.
