Chapter 1 - The Empty Organizer
Nine days earlier, Emma woke to the sound of Jason closing a drawer.
Morning light filtered through the nursery curtains, illuminating dust above the rocking chair. Noah slept against Emma’s chest, his tiny hand curled near the collar of her robe.
Jason stood beside the medicine table with his back to her.
“What are you doing?” Emma asked.
He turned quickly.
“Looking for the thermometer.”
“It’s in the bathroom.”
“Right.”
He smiled, but the smile appeared a second too late.
Jason closed the drawer and walked toward her. He kissed the top of Noah’s head, careful not to disturb him.
“How are my two favorite people?”
“Noah finally slept for almost two hours.”
“And you?”
Emma glanced at the medicine organizer on the table.
“Still dizzy.”
“The doctor said recovery takes time.”
“The doctor also said someone should stay with me.”
Jason’s expression tightened.
“I am staying with you.”
“You’re leaving Friday.”
“It’s one night.”
“You said the birthday trip would last the whole weekend.”
Jason released a quiet sigh and moved toward the window. His pickup truck waited outside beside three packed fuel containers and a suitcase he had loaded the previous evening.
“My mother planned the dinner months ago.”
“She planned it after Noah was born.”
“She wants one normal family evening.”
Emma looked down at their son.
There had been nothing normal about the previous three weeks.
After Noah’s birth, Jason had insisted they recover at the mountain cabin his family owned outside Blackridge. The nearest town was forty minutes away, and the road became difficult whenever rain loosened the gravel.
Jason called the cabin peaceful.
Emma called it isolated.
Her nurse had arranged two home visits during the first week. Jason canceled both, saying Emma needed sleep. When the clinic called to reschedule, her phone mysteriously lost service.
Only Jason’s phone appeared to work consistently.
“Your mother could have dinner here,” Emma said.
“She doesn’t like the mountain road.”
“But I’m supposed to stay here alone with a newborn?”
“You won’t be alone. I’ll ask Mrs. Alden to check on you.”
Mrs. Alden lived almost five miles away and walked with a cane.
Emma stared at him.
Jason looked away first.
The medicine organizer rattled as Noah shifted against her. Emma reached for it and opened the compartment marked Thursday morning.
It was empty.
She checked the next compartment.
Also empty.
Her remaining doses should have lasted through Sunday.
“Jason.”
He was already near the door.
“My medicine is gone.”
He returned and looked into the organizer.
“You probably took it.”
“I didn’t take four days of medicine.”
“You’ve barely slept. You might not remember.”
“I would remember that.”
Jason picked up the organizer and turned it over as if the missing tablets might be stuck underneath.
“You’re accusing me of something.”
“I’m asking where they are.”
“And I’m telling you I don’t know.”
Noah began to stir.
Jason placed the organizer down harder than necessary.
“I’ll pick up a refill in town.”
“The pharmacy won’t refill it early without speaking to my doctor.”
“I’ll handle it.”
He left the room before Emma could answer.
A minute later, she heard his truck start.
She waited until the engine faded, then placed Noah safely in the crib.
The locked drawer Jason had been searching stood beneath the changing table.
Emma tried the handle.
It opened.
Inside lay a folded photograph showing two young men beside the cabin. Jason stood on the left, smiling confidently. The second man was taller, with dark hair and a scar beside his temple.
Caleb.
Behind the photograph was a handwritten note.
If Jason brings her to the mountain house, call me.
Below the sentence was a telephone number.
Emma heard tires on the gravel outside.
Jason had returned much too quickly to have reached town.
She shoved the note into her robe just as the nursery door opened.
Jason stood there holding a new medicine bottle.
“That was fast,” she said.
May you like
He smiled.
“I told you I’d handle it.”
