Chapter 3 - The First Baby No One Mentioned)
The first pregnancy had begun when Caroline was twenty-four.
Luke had told everyone they were waiting to have children.
Caroline remembered saying it herself.
“We’re not ready.”
She remembered repeating it at dinners.
At holidays.
Whenever Luke’s mother asked.
Now a hospital record said otherwise.
Fourteen weeks pregnant.
Emergency admission.
Severe bleeding.
Caroline read the page until the words blurred.
“This hospital?”
“No,” Dr. Carter said. “A private clinic outside the city.”
“Why is it in your records?”
“Because your archived admission referenced previous obstetric complications. I never noticed the source until tonight.”
Detective Alvarez photographed the record.
“What clinic?”
“Brightwell Women’s Center.”
Alvarez typed the name into her phone.
After several seconds she looked up.
“It closed four years ago.”
“Why?”
“Owner died. Financial problems afterward.”
Caroline barely heard them.
“Did I lose that baby too?”
Dr. Carter did not answer immediately.
“According to the record, yes.”
Caroline studied the document.
No memory.
Not one.
“How?”
“Spontaneous miscarriage.”
“Was Luke there?”
“Listed as emergency contact.”
Caroline laughed once.
It sounded empty.
“So twice.”
Nobody responded.
“He hurt me twice.”
“We don’t know what happened in the first pregnancy,” Alvarez said carefully.
Caroline looked at her.
“Do you think I believe in coincidences anymore?”
Alvarez did not answer.
Caroline leaned back against the pillows.
Her current baby moved again.
She placed both hands over her stomach.
Eight months.
A boy.
Luke had been obsessed with that.
When they learned the sex, he bought champagne.
He called his father.
He called friends Caroline had never met.
“My son.”
He never said our son.
Only my son.
A thought entered Caroline’s mind.
“What were the sexes of the others?”
Dr. Carter looked confused.
“Grace was female.”
“The first?”
“The record doesn’t say.”
“Can we find out?”
“Possibly, if pathology records survived.”
Caroline stared at her.
“I want everything.”
Detective Alvarez nodded.
“We’ll subpoena records.”
Caroline looked toward the window.
The city lights seemed impossibly distant.
“What happens to Luke?”
“Tonight he remains in custody.”
“Tonight?”
“His attorney can request bail.”
Caroline immediately became tense.
“He has money.”
“I know.”
“He’ll come back.”
“We can request an emergency protective order.”
“He’ll still come back.”
Alvarez moved closer.
“We’ll arrange security.”
“You don’t understand.”
Caroline met her eyes.
“He never loses.”
The detective’s expression changed.
“He just did.”
Before Caroline could respond, Sarah entered after briefly leaving.
She carried a plastic hospital property bag.
“Police found this in your clothes.”
Inside was Caroline’s phone.
The screen had cracked.
“I thought Luke took it.”
“He did,” Alvarez said. “It was in his pocket.”
Caroline looked at the phone.
“Can you unlock it?”
She tried.
The passcode failed.
Again.
Failed.
“That’s strange.”
“What?”
“My code is Grace’s birthday.”
The room went quiet.
Caroline stared at herself.
Then shook her head.
“No. That doesn’t make sense.”
“What birthday?” Alvarez asked.
Caroline’s breathing accelerated.
“I don’t know why I said that.”
Dr. Carter leaned closer.
“What code were you trying?”
Caroline looked at the screen.
418.
April eighteenth.
The date written on the photograph from Grace’s hospitalization.
Caroline covered her mouth.
“I didn’t know.”
But some part of her had known.
Some part Luke could not erase.
Alvarez photographed the phone.
“Try another date you normally use.”
Caroline typed Luke’s birthday.
The phone unlocked.
She frowned.
“I changed it.”
“When?”
“I don’t remember.”
Alvarez asked, “Can we look?”
Caroline nodded.
There were dozens of missed calls.
Most from Luke.
Some from an unknown number.
One voicemail had been left thirty-seven minutes before the attack in the kitchen.
Caroline pressed play.
Static.
Then a man’s voice.
“Caroline, if you’ve started remembering, don’t confront him. Take whatever you found and get out of the house. Luke cannot know I contacted you.”
The voicemail ended.
Caroline stared at the phone.
“Who is that?”
Nobody recognized the voice.
There was a second message from the same number.
Shorter.
More urgent.
“He lied about Grace. He lied about the clinic. And if you’re pregnant again, your baby is in danger.”
Caroline’s blood turned cold.
Alvarez took the phone.
“We’ll trace the number.”
Caroline looked at her stomach.
“Why would my baby be in danger?”
No one answered.
Another message appeared.
It had just been delivered.
Unknown sender.
May you like
Three words.
HE MADE BAIL.
