Chapter 8: The Appointment Someone Canceled
Danielle didn't scream when she heard the news.
She simply stared at Officer Brooks as though the words had been spoken in a language she couldn't understand.
“Canceled?”” she whispered.
Officer Brooks nodded.
“The hospital is reviewing the access logs. The appointment was removed from the system on Friday afternoon.””
“What time?”” I asked.
“2:31 p.m.””
My heart began pounding.
The first message to Lily had been sent at 2:17.
The appointment had been canceled fourteen minutes later.
“Could Rebecca have canceled it?”” Danielle asked.
“The login credentials were associated with her account. We're still determining whether she personally performed the action.””
“But why would she?””
Nobody answered.
I looked at Danielle.
“You said she wanted to help.””
“She said she wanted Lily to receive treatment.””
“Then why cancel the appointment?””
Danielle shook her head.
“I don't know.””
Officer Brooks spoke carefully.
“Did Rebecca have permission to access the hospital's system?””
“No,” Danielle said.
“She wasn't authorized to view Lily's records.””
“Did she know the appointment details?””
Danielle hesitated.
“I told her about the assessment.””
“Why?””
“Because I thought she might be willing to help.””
Officer Brooks wrote something down.
“Did you provide her with any login information?””
“No.””
I watched Danielle's face.
She was frightened, but she wasn't lying about this. I could see that much.
Whatever Rebecca had done, Danielle hadn't willingly given her access.
I turned toward the window.
The sky was darkening, and the reflection of our living room appeared in the glass. Three adults stood inside a house where a child had once made the rules about which stuffed animal got to sit at the head of the breakfast table.
Now we were discussing canceled appointments, stolen messages, and a little girl who had died believing her father didn't want her.
I pressed my forehead against the cool window.
“Did the doctors say Lily could have survived?””
Danielle didn't answer.
I turned.
“Danielle.””
She wiped her face.
“They said early treatment would have given her a better chance. They never promised she would survive.””
“But she had a chance.””
“Yes.””
“And someone canceled the appointment.””
“Yes.””
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The sentence I would spend the rest of my life hearing.
Someone had taken a chance away from my daughter.
And I had been too distracted to notice it happening.
Officer Brooks's phone rang again.
She listened, then asked Daniel Price to bring his laptop back into the living room.
“We've received a preliminary report from the hospital's security team,” she said.
Daniel opened the file.
“There's an important distinction,” he explained.
“The account used to cancel the appointment was linked to Ms. Cole, but that doesn't establish who was physically using the computer. We're comparing access logs, device identifiers, and the timing of the hotel footage.””
“Can you find out?”” I asked.
“We're working on it.””
Vanessa had been silent for nearly twenty minutes.
Now she rose from the sofa.
“My mother wouldn't cancel a child's treatment.””
Danielle turned toward her.
“You've told us your mother threatened Lily. You've admitted she sent messages to her. You've told us she entered our hotel room and accessed Marcus's phone.””
Vanessa flinched.
“And now you want us to believe she drew the line at the one thing that might have helped Lily?””
“I don't know what happened!””
Danielle's eyes filled with tears.
“Neither did Lily.””
Vanessa lowered her head.
Officer Brooks moved closer.
“Ms. Cole, did your mother tell you anything about Lily's medical appointments?””
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“She said Danielle was hiding something. She said Lily had a condition that might require help from Ethan's family.””
“Did she know the date of the assessment?””
“Yes.””
“How?””
“My mother had been asking questions. She wanted to know what the doctors were doing.””
“Did she ask you to obtain any medical records?””
Vanessa hesitated.
Then she nodded.
I stared at her.
“You helped her?””
“No! I didn't access the records.””
“What did you do?””
Vanessa rubbed her arms.
“My mother asked me to find out which hospital Lily was being treated at. She said she wanted to make sure the doctors weren't ignoring her.””
“And you gave her the information?””
“Yes.””
Danielle stood.
“You gave her my daughter's hospital?””
Vanessa began crying.
“She was my niece!””
“You'd barely met her!””
“I know!””
“You had spent months telling Marcus that his family was the reason you couldn't have the life you wanted. Then you helped your mother interfere with the one person in that family who couldn't defend herself.””
Vanessa looked at me.
“I thought my mother wanted to help.””
I shook my head.
“You didn't ask what she was going to do.””
“I trusted her.””
“So did I,” I said.
Vanessa blinked.
For the first time, she seemed to understand that I wasn't talking about Rebecca anymore.
I had trusted Vanessa with my secrets.
I'd trusted her with my phone.
I'd trusted her to understand that whatever happened between us, Lily was never supposed to suffer for it.
And she had betrayed that trust.
But I had betrayed Lily first.
I couldn't place the entire weight of my guilt on someone else's shoulders simply because it was easier than carrying it myself.
Officer Brooks received another update.
She stepped into the hallway, spoke quietly, then returned.
“We've identified a device that accessed the hospital portal on Friday.””
Danielle leaned forward.
“Whose device?””
“The hospital's technical team has linked the session to a phone associated with Rebecca Cole.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.””
“The same device appears in the hotel footage.””
Vanessa's face went pale.
Officer Brooks continued.
“We're still confirming the exact sequence of events, but the evidence suggests the person who accessed the hospital records was also present at the hotel.””
I looked at the photograph of Rebecca entering the room.
“Did she use the phone in my suitcase?””
“That's one possibility.””
“What was on it?””
“The investigators are recovering the data.””
Vanessa gripped the back of a chair.
“My mother said she destroyed that phone because it contained messages from Ethan.””
I turned toward her.
“Messages from your dead brother?””
She nodded.
“He sent her messages before he died. She kept them for years.””
“What did they say?””
Vanessa looked at Danielle.
“I don't know all of them.””
“Tell us what you do know.””
Vanessa sat down again.
“My mother told me Ethan had been angry with Danielle. He believed she'd lied to him about something.””
Danielle's face tightened.
“He was angry because I wouldn't let him be part of Lily's life.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“She said there was more to it.””
“What more?””
Vanessa looked at the floor.
“She said Ethan believed Lily's birth had been planned.””
The room fell silent.
I looked at Danielle.
“What does that mean?””
Danielle's hands trembled.
“Ethan and I had talked about having a child before we separated. When I found out I was pregnant, I told him. He said he didn't want to raise a child while we were separated, and I agreed to raise her with you.””
“Did you tell him I was the father?””
“No.””
“Did you tell him you were going to marry me?””
“Yes.””
“And he agreed?””
“He said he wanted Lily to have a stable home.””
I stared at her.
“So why would he believe you'd planned the pregnancy?””
Danielle shook her head.
“I don't know.””
Vanessa looked up.
“My mother said Ethan believed Danielle had kept information from him.””
“What information?””
“I don't know.””
Danielle pressed her hands together.
“Ethan was angry because I wouldn't let him see Lily after he changed his mind. He wanted to be involved when she was born. I told him it was too late.””
“Too late for what?”” I asked.
“For us to become a family. I was married to you by then.””
I felt a strange mixture of anger and sorrow.
Ethan had died six years earlier.
He would never be able to explain what he'd believed or why he'd made the choices he did.
And Lily had never been given the chance to know him.
Officer Brooks interrupted.
“There's another development. Rebecca Cole has agreed to speak with investigators.””
Vanessa stood.
“She's coming here?””
“No. She'll be interviewed at the station.””
“Can I talk to her?””
“Not at this time.””
Vanessa's face hardened.
“You can't keep me from speaking to my own mother.””
“I'm not preventing you from speaking with her indefinitely. I'm asking you not to contact her while we're establishing the facts.””
Vanessa looked at me.
“Marcus, please. You have to understand why she did this.””
I stared at her.
“Why?””
“She thought she was protecting me.””
“From what?””
“From losing you.””
I shook my head.
“She was trying to protect you from the consequences of your own choices.””
Vanessa began to cry.
“I loved you.””
“And I loved my daughter.””
She flinched.
I continued, my voice breaking.
“But when she needed me, I wasn't there. I can't change that. I can't make her hear my voice again. I can't tell her I was wrong.””
I swallowed.
“So don't ask me to make your choices easier to live with.””
Vanessa lowered her head.
Officer Brooks's phone rang again.
This time, she answered immediately.
“Yes?””
She listened.
Then she asked, “Are you looking at the original file?””
A pause.
“Don't open anything else. Preserve the device.””
She ended the call and turned toward us.
“The digital team has recovered a deleted video from Rebecca's phone.””
My heart pounded.
“What does it show?””
“It's a recording from Friday afternoon. We're arranging to view it.””
“Can we see it now?””
Officer Brooks hesitated, then nodded to Daniel.
He opened the video on his laptop.
The image was shaky.
It showed the interior of our hotel room.
The camera was pointed toward the desk.
My phone lay beside a glass of water.
Then Rebecca entered the frame.
She picked up my phone, looked at the screen, and tapped several times.
A message appeared.
I couldn't read it.
Then she opened another application.
A few seconds later, she placed the phone back on the desk.
The recording continued.
Rebecca stepped toward the window and made a call.
Her voice came through the speakers.
“It's done,” she said.
“She won't call again.””
A man's voice answered from the other end.
“Did you cancel the appointment?””
Rebecca smiled.
“Yes.””
“Good. Then she'll have no choice but to tell Marcus the truth.””
I felt my blood turn cold.
The man continued.
“Once he knows who Lily's father was, he'll leave Danielle. And once he leaves, Vanessa will finally get what she wants.””
Rebecca laughed.
“You think this is about Vanessa?””
The man's voice sharpened.
“Then what is it about?””
Rebecca looked toward the phone on the desk.
“It's about making sure Danielle never gets to keep what she stole from us.””
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Then Danielle whispered, “Who was that man?””
Vanessa was staring at the screen.
Her lips had gone white.
I turned toward her.
“Do you recognize his voice?””
She nodded slowly.
“Who is he?””
She looked at me with an expression of absolute horror.
“Thomas Bell.””
Her stepfather.
Rebecca's estranged husband.
The man who had supposedly told her to stay out of our lives.
Officer Brooks immediately contacted the investigator.
But Vanessa wasn't looking at the officer anymore.
She was staring at a second notification that had appeared beneath the video file.
A message recovered from Rebecca's phone.
It was addressed to Thomas.
If Lily tells Marcus what she saw, everything falls apart.
Below it was Thomas's reply.
Then make sure she never gets the chance.
Danielle covered her mouth.
I stared at the screen.
Someone had known Lily was trying to tell me something.
Someone had decided she must be stopped.
May you like
And as Officer Brooks reached for her radio, Vanessa whispered the words none of us wanted to hear.
“Thomas was supposed to be in Charleston that weekend.””
