Chapter 3 - The Record He Was Building
Detective Reyes asked Hannah to walk her through the last month.
Carol had moved into the guest room six weeks earlier, "to help with the pregnancy." Right after that, Derek started staying late at work. Carol made breakfast every morning, packed Hannah's lunch, and insisted on cooking dinner herself. When Hannah said the food tasted bitter or smelled off, Carol told her she was being ungrateful and difficult.
Then Hannah remembered something else.
Derek had taken her to two extra prenatal appointments that none of us had known about.
"For what?" Reyes asked.
Hannah swallowed hard. "He told them I wasn't eating."
Nobody in the room said anything.
"He told the doctor I was scared of gaining weight," she went on. "That was a lie. I kept telling him the food was making me throw up."
Reyes asked if she could look through Hannah's phone.
There were text threads from Derek to Hannah's OB. He'd written about her "food refusal." Her "mood swings." Her "irrational fear of eating."
He'd been building a paper trail for weeks.
Then Derek showed up at the hospital. Carol was right behind him.
He demanded to see his wife. Security stopped both of them in the hallway outside her room.
Through the window, I watched Carol's face when Detective Reyes stepped out and told them a sample of Hannah's dinner had been sent to the lab.
Every bit of color left her cheeks.
Derek pulled it together faster.
"My wife has been doing this to herself," he said, loud enough for the whole floor to hear. "She's been unstable for a month. Ask anyone."
Reyes glanced back at Hannah through the glass.
Then Hannah grabbed my wrist.
"Rachel," she whispered. "The blue bottle."
May you like
"What blue bottle?"
"In Carol's toiletry bag. In the guest bathroom. Derek refills it for her every Sunday night. I've seen him do it."
