Chapter 3 - WHAT THE DOCTOR FOUND
At the hospital, Dr. Jonathan Reed met me outside the trauma unit.
Emma had severe bruising, hypothermia, several fractured ribs, and signs of placental stress. Her baby still had a heartbeat, but neither of them was stable.
Dr. Reed lowered his voice.
“Emma told us her husband and mother-in-law assaulted her.”
“Will she survive?”
“We’re doing everything we can.”
“And the baby?”
“The next several hours are critical.”
I sat beside Emma’s bed until morning became afternoon. Her hand remained cold inside mine while monitors tracked two lives at once.
At 2:17 p.m., Dr. Reed returned with a hematologist.
Emma’s bleeding was more severe than her visible injuries should have caused. Her clotting tests were dangerously abnormal, yet she had no medical reason to be taking anticoagulants.
Additional analysis detected a prescription blood thinner in her system.
Emma had never been prescribed one.
“When would she have taken it?” I asked.
“We cannot determine the exact time yet. But the level suggests more than accidental environmental exposure.”
“Could someone have put it in her food?”
“Yes.”
The answer hollowed out the room.
Carter and Victoria had not simply lost control during an argument.
Someone had weakened Emma’s ability to clot before she was beaten and abandoned in freezing rain.
Dr. Reed also showed me photographs of faint bruises along her arms in different stages of healing. This had not begun that morning.
My phone vibrated as I left the hospital.
A detective assigned to the case had sent one question:
Do you know why Emma kept mentioning silver?
I did.
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Before marrying Carter, my daughter had worked as an assistant collections registrar at an auction house.
She knew antique silver better than anyone in the Whitmore family realized.
