Chapter 4 - the house changed while Emma was gone)
Emma stayed with Sarah for three nights.
On the first night, she slept fourteen hours.
On the second, she ate an entire bowl of soup and kept it down.
On the third, she realized her hands had stopped trembling.
Sarah noticed before Emma did.
"How do you feel?"
Emma sat at the breakfast table.
"Better."
"How much better?"
Emma thought about it.
"Different."
Sarah set her coffee down.
"You haven't taken anything Carol prepared in three days."
Emma stared at her.
Neither of them spoke.
At ten that morning, Emma called her oncologist.
Dr. Patel asked her to come in immediately.
Sarah drove.
Emma brought every prescription she had taken from the house except the medication Carol had removed.
The clinic reviewed the list.
One discrepancy became three.
Then five.
A dosage entered on Emma's handwritten schedule did not match the clinic's instructions.
Two medications appeared at times they had never been prescribed.
A nurse compared Emma's recent bloodwork with earlier results.
The changes were concerning but not yet conclusive.
Dr. Patel sat across from Emma.
"Do you administer your medications yourself?"
"Not all of them."
"Who does?"
"My mother-in-law."
He exchanged a glance with the nurse.
Emma's mouth went dry.
"Are you saying she poisoned me?"
"I'm not saying that."
"But you're thinking something."
"I'm saying your symptoms deserve investigation, and until we understand what happened, nobody outside your medical team should prepare or administer anything."
Sarah leaned forward.
"Can you test what she's been taking?"
"Some things. Not everything after several days."
"What should we do?"
Dr. Patel looked at Emma.
"First, make sure you are physically safe."
Emma felt embarrassed by how quickly tears came.
"I don't know if I am."
He did not tell her she was imagining things.
He did not tell her cancer made people emotional.
He did not say Carol meant well.
He simply nodded.
"Then treat that feeling seriously."
That afternoon, Ryan called seventeen times.
Emma answered the eighteenth.
"Where are you?"
"Sarah's."
"Come home."
"No."
"Emma."
"No."
A pause.
Then his tone changed.
Softer.
"We're worried."
"Who is we?"
"You know who."
"Say it."
He sighed.
"Mom and me."
Emma looked at Sarah, who sat across the room.
"Why was I being given a sleep aid labeled as nausea medicine?"
Ryan said nothing.
"Ryan?"
"Mom made a mistake."
"How?"
"She's sixty-two. She handles a lot of pills."
"She told me the manufacturer changed."
"She was embarrassed."
"So she lied."
"You're turning one mistake into something huge."
"I passed out on the bathroom floor."
"Chemo causes fainting."
"My doctors don't think what happened should be ignored."
That frightened him.
Emma heard it.
"What did you tell them?"
"The truth."
"What truth?"
"That medication in our house did not match my treatment plan."
Ryan lowered his voice.
"You shouldn't have done that without talking to me."
Emma stared at the wall.
There it was.
Not What did the doctor say?
Not Are you okay?
You shouldn't have done that.
"Why?"
"Because you're making Mom look like a criminal."
"I didn't make her do anything."
"Emma, she gave up everything to help us."
"No. She took over everything."
"Because you couldn't handle it."
Emma stopped breathing.
Ryan realized too late what he had said.
"That's not what I meant."
"Yes, it is."
"You're sick."
"So?"
"You need help."
"I need a husband."
Silence.
Ryan said, "Come home."
"No."
"I can't fix this if you're hiding at Sarah's."
"I'm not hiding."
"Then come back."
Emma closed her eyes.
"I'll come tomorrow."
Sarah stood up immediately.
Emma raised a hand.
Ryan sounded relieved.
"Good."
"I'm bringing Sarah."
His relief vanished.
"Why?"
"Because I want her there."
"Emma."
"Tomorrow."
She ended the call.
Sarah stared at her.
"No."
"I need clothes."
"I'll get them."
"I need my laptop. My documents. My father's watch. There are things I don't want them touching."
"Police can escort you."
"I'm not ready to call police."
"Why?"
"Because I still need to know what happened."
Sarah walked toward her.
"You're treating this like a mystery."
"It is."
"No. It's your life."
Emma nodded.
"Exactly."
The next morning they returned together.
Ryan's car was gone.
Carol's was not there.
The house appeared empty.
Emma unlocked the front door.
She stopped immediately.
Something was wrong.
Sarah saw it.
"What?"
Emma looked toward the hallway.
"The table."
"What table?"
"The console table used to be under that mirror."
Now it sat three feet to the left.
Sarah frowned.
Emma entered the kitchen.
Cabinet doors were closed.
Counters clean.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
Emma hurried upstairs.
Her bedroom closet had been reorganized.
Her medication drawer was empty.
The bathroom trash had been removed.
The small container where she kept appointment paperwork was gone.
"Sarah."
Her sister appeared behind her.
"They cleaned."
Emma opened the nightstand.
Empty.
"Not cleaned."
She turned.
"They took things."
They searched for nearly an hour.
Medical paperwork.
Missing.
Old medication organizers.
Missing.
A notebook containing blood pressure readings.
Missing.
Even the garbage bags from the garage had been replaced.
Sarah stood in the center of the kitchen.
"They knew you went to the doctor."
Emma's phone vibrated.
Ryan.
Where are you?
She typed back.
At the house.
Three dots appeared immediately.
Then disappeared.
A minute later, the garage door began opening.
Sarah moved toward Emma.
"Behind me."
Ryan entered alone.
He looked at Sarah.
Then at Emma.
His expression was not surprise.
It was anger.
"You said tomorrow."
"It is tomorrow."
"You were supposed to call."
"Why?"
Ryan closed the garage door.
Emma asked, "Where is my medication?"
"Mom disposed of it."
"Why?"
"Because you said you didn't trust it."
"Where are my treatment notes?"
"What notes?"
"The notebook."
"I don't know."
"Where are the pill organizers?"
"Trash."
"Why would you throw away evidence after I told you my doctor was concerned?"
Ryan stared at her.
Sarah slowly took out her phone.
Ryan noticed.
"Put that away."
Sarah said, "No."
Ryan's eyes returned to Emma.
"You are letting her destroy everything."
Emma took a step toward him.
"Did you know Carol was giving me the wrong pills?"
"No."
"Did you know she was changing doses?"
"No."
"Did you know there was an unmarked vial?"
"No."
Emma watched him.
Ryan had always been a terrible liar.
He looked to the side when he lied.
He was looking to the side now.
"Then why did you ask me what vial before I described it?"
Ryan froze.
Sarah looked at Emma.
Emma's heart began hammering.
The conversation from three nights earlier replayed in her mind.
What vial?
The clear one.
Probably one of the injections.
Ryan had known exactly what she meant.
Emma whispered.
"You knew."
Ryan stepped forward.
"Emma."
"You knew there was a vial."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"You lied to me."
"I knew Mom had an injectable medication for you."
"Which one?"
"I don't know."
"Who prescribed it?"
"I don't know."
"Then why did you let her use it?"
Ryan's face hardened.
"Because she told me it helped."
Sarah's voice came coldly.
"Helped with what?"
Ryan did not answer.
Emma stared at the man she had slept beside for nine years.
"Ryan."
He looked at her.
For one terrible second, Emma saw the answer before he spoke.
"I just wanted you calmer."
The room went silent.
Sarah stopped recording only because her hand had started shaking.
Emma's voice was barely audible.
"Calmer?"
Ryan seemed to realize the trap closing around him.
"Not like that."
"What does that mean?"
"You were anxious. You weren't sleeping. Mom said she had something safe."
"Something from where?"
"I don't know."
"Did a doctor prescribe it?"
He said nothing.
Emma felt as though the floor had vanished.
Sarah stepped closer.
"Get your things."
Ryan raised his voice.
"Sarah, stay out of this."
"No."
"This is my marriage."
Sarah looked at him.
"Not for long."
Ryan's face twisted.
"Emma, you walk out now and don't expect me to keep pretending this is normal."
Emma looked at him.
Then she did something Ryan did not expect.
She laughed.
It was quiet.
Broken.
But real.
"Normal?"
She picked up her suitcase.
"You have no idea how badly I wanted this house to still be normal."
She walked toward the door.
Before leaving, she turned.
"Don't throw anything else away."
Ryan crossed his arms.
"Or what?"
Emma looked at Sarah's phone.
May you like
"Or the recording you just gave us becomes the least of your problems."
For the first time, Ryan looked afraid.
