Chapter 2 - THE PAPER TRAIL OF BETRAYAL“This audio is fake!” I yelled, pulling off the headphones. “You can hear the digital cuts! Look at her mouth—her lips aren’t even moving in sync with those words!”
Detective Vance snatched the tablet back, his expression shifting from suspicion to deep curiosity. He replayed the video, zooming in on Emily’s face. He was a veteran investigator; he knew what to look for.
“We’ll send this to our forensics team,” Vance said quietly. “In the meantime, Mr. Mitchell, you aren’t off the hook. But I’m going to allow you to stay in the building under surveillance while we pull the home’s full security footage.”
When I stepped out into the hospital hallway under the watchful eye of an officer, I saw them.
My mother, Linda, was sitting on a bench, dabbing her eyes with a tissue, putting on the performance of a lifetime for a group of sympathetic hospital staff. Beside her, Megan was scrolling on her phone, looking mildly bored until she noticed me looking. A faint, cruel smirk touched the corner of Megan’s lips before she quickly put on a sad face.
I walked straight toward them, rage boiling in my veins.
“How could you?” I rasped, my voice shaking with pure fury. “Emily is in the ICU! Noah almost died! What did you do to them?!”
Linda instantly squeezed out fresh tears, putting her hands together in a dramatic plea. “Oh, Ryan! How can you accuse your own mother?! We tried to save her! Emily was crazy, Ryan! She locked herself in the room! She refused to feed the baby! We tried to break in—that’s probably how she got those bruises on her wrists, trying to keep us out!”
“Liar!” I roared.
“Sir! Back off!” the accompanying police officer warned, grabbing my shoulder.
“Ask her about the audio!” I yelled at the officer. “Ask her why she edited a video file!”
Linda’s eyes flashed with a split-second of pure terror before she quickly hid it behind another sob. “He’s losing his mind! The stress of his crime is making him insane!”
Just then, Dr. Thorne walked down the hallway toward us. His face was grim.
“Family of Emily Mitchell?” Dr. Thorne asked.
I shoved past the tension and stepped forward. “I’m her husband. How is she? How is Noah?”
Dr. Thorne took a deep breath. “Your baby boy is stabilized. We’ve started him on fluids and pediatric antibiotics. He’s weak, but he’s a fighter. He’s going to survive.”
A flood of relief washed over me, bringing tears to my eyes. “And Emily?”
Dr. Thorne’s expression darkened. “Mrs. Mitchell is conscious, but her condition is critical. However... she insisted on speaking to the police immediately. She said she has something to tell them before she loses consciousness again.”
Linda stood up abruptly, her voice shrill. “Oh, she’s confused! She’s delirious from the fever! You shouldn’t listen to her, Doctor—!”
“Silence!” Detective Vance snapped, stepping between Linda and the doctor. “Mrs. Mitchell is the victim here. I am going into that room right now.”
Vance turned to me. “You wait here, Mitchell.”
As Vance walked into the ICU, Linda pulled Megan aside, whispering frantically. I stepped closer to hear, hiding behind a large structural pillar.
“Did you wipe the laptop?” Linda hissed under her breath.
“I deleted the raw audio files, Mom,” Megan whispered back, her voice tight with panic. “But what if the doctor found the pills in the kitchen? You said those sedatives would just make her sleep!”
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My heart dropped into an abyss. Pills? Sedatives?
They hadn't just neglected her. They had drugged my wife so she couldn't fight back, couldn't feed our baby, and couldn't answer my calls.
