Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW
Caroline woke before sunrise.
Emily was asleep in the chair beside her.
The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
Caroline stared at the ceiling.
Then she heard footsteps.
A woman entered.
Not a nurse.
Not a doctor.
She was in her late sixties, wearing a dark coat.
She stopped beside the bed.
“Caroline?”
Caroline didn't recognize her.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked frightened.
“My name is Dr. Helen Morris.”
Caroline's eyes widened.
The name was familiar.
“Were you my doctor?”
“Not exactly.”
Helen sat down.
“I was the doctor who reviewed your pregnancy records three years ago.”
Caroline remembered.
The woman who had asked Luke to leave the examination room.
The woman who had tried to speak with Caroline alone.
The woman who had later disappeared from the clinic.
“What happened to you?”
Helen looked down.
“Luke threatened me.”
Caroline's chest tightened.
“What did he threaten?”
“My career.”
Then Helen whispered:
“Your life.”
Caroline stared at her.
Helen reached into her purse.
She pulled out a small envelope.
“I kept this because I knew someday you might need it.”
Inside was a copy of an old medical report.
But there was more.
A handwritten note.
Patient's injuries are inconsistent with accidental trauma.
Caroline stared at it.
Helen continued.
“I wanted to report him.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because he knew where my children went to school.”
Caroline's eyes filled with tears.
“He controlled everyone.”
Helen nodded.
“That was his talent.”
Then she looked directly at Caroline.
“But there was something else.”
“What?”
“The pregnancies.”
Caroline held her breath.
Helen spoke slowly.
“You weren't infertile.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Helen shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
She leaned closer.
“Your fertility was never the problem.”
Caroline stared at her.
Helen continued.
“Someone was interfering with your medication.”
Emily woke.
“What?”
Helen looked at her.
“Certain medications can make pregnancy extremely dangerous.”
Caroline's heart stopped.
“Luke?”
Helen nodded.
“We couldn't prove it then.”
Emily stood.
“Why would he do that?”
Helen looked at Caroline.
“Because he wanted everyone to believe she was incapable of carrying a child.”
Caroline felt sick.
All those years.
All those accusations.
All those times she had blamed her own body.
It had been manufactured.
Luke had created the failure he accused her of causing.
Helen handed Caroline another document.
“There is one more thing.”
Caroline looked down.
It was a prescription.
Her name was on it.
The dosage was wrong.
Dangerously wrong.
And beneath it was Luke's handwriting.
Give her this.
Caroline closed her eyes.
“He did this deliberately.”
May you like
Helen nodded.
“And now the police can prove it.”
