Chapter 2 - What Amber Called a Prank
The ambulance took Caleb to Williamson Medical Center while I rode beside him holding one cold little hand.
Amber followed in her SUV with Lily.
I didn't understand why she came.
Maybe she thought behaving normally could still make what happened look normal.
It couldn't.
Caleb's oxygen level dropped twice during the drive. The paramedic kept calling his name and rubbing his sternum while another line of numbers changed on the monitor.
At the emergency department, they took him through double doors without me.
Twenty minutes later, a physician named Dr. Patel came into the family room.
“He's stable for the moment,” she said. “But this looks like significant central nervous system depression. We need to know exactly what he ingested.”
Amber answered before I could.
“Probably something from Sarah's bag.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“You leave medication everywhere.”
“No, I don't.”
Amber folded her arms. “I found the bottle in that black tote you carry.”
My black gym tote had been in my locked car all morning.
I hadn't taken it to the park.
Before I could say that, Lily appeared behind Amber and quietly shook her head at me.
Amber saw her.
“Go sit down.”
Lily obeyed immediately.
The police arrived soon afterward because the hospital was treating Caleb's condition as a suspected poisoning.
Officer Ramirez separated us.
I told him everything from Lily's smartwatch call to Amber's comments under the tree.
Amber told a different story.
She claimed she had discovered an unlabeled drink in Caleb's backpack, believed I had packed it, and given him “only a sip.”
“She's trying to blame me,” I said.
Ramirez didn't reassure me.
“We're documenting everyone's statement.”
It was the correct answer.
It still terrified me.
Daniel finally called while I stood outside Caleb's room.
“Is he okay?”
His voice sounded shaken.
“He's unconscious.”
There was a pause.
Then he asked something strange.
“Did they find the bottle?”
May you like
I stopped breathing for a moment.
I had never told Daniel there was a bottle.
