Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT WATCH
Panic is a physical thing. It clawed at my throat, tight and suffocating.
I grabbed the nurse by the shoulders. "Lock the ward. Code Pink, whatever you call it. My mother-in-law is in the hospital, she has my husband's phone, and she is coming for my baby."
The terror in my eyes finally broke through the nurse's professional calm. She hit a red button on the wall. Almost instantly, heavy magnetic doors at the end of the hallway slammed shut with a deafening clack.
I ran back into Leo's room, locking the heavy wooden door behind me. I dragged the heavy vinyl visitor chair and wedged it under the door handle. I stood in front of Leo’s crib, my chest heaving, listening to the muffled sounds of alarms echoing through the corridors.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
A sharp knock at the door made me jump.
"Mrs. Davis? It's hospital security, and Detective Reynolds."
I pulled the chair away and cracked the door. Reynolds stood there, looking grim. Behind him, two security guards were patrolling the hall.
"Did you find her?" I asked breathlessly.
"We swept the floor. She's not here," Reynolds said. "We checked the security cameras. She walked into the main lobby ten minutes ago, looked right at the camera, dropped your husband's phone in a trash can, and walked back out."
"She didn't try to come up?" I asked, confused.
"No. It was a diversion," Reynolds said softly. "She wanted you terrified and looking over your shoulder here."
"Why?"
Reynolds sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. "Because while we were locking down the hospital, she went to your house."
"Mark is at the house," I said.
"We know. We just sent a squad car over. Mr. Davis called 911 a few minutes ago. His mother broke in. She took something, Elena. And we need to know what it is."
An hour later, Mark arrived at the hospital escorted by a police officer. He looked completely shattered. His jacket was torn at the collar, and he had a fresh scratch down the side of his neck.
I didn't move to hug him. I stood guarding the crib.
"What did she take, Mark?" I asked, my voice hollow.
Mark looked at the floor. He was holding a large, crumpled plastic shopping bag. "She came in through the back door. I tried to stop her, but she had a crowbar. She swung it at me. She didn't want to hurt me, she just wanted to get to the cedar chest in the hallway."
"What was in the chest?"
Mark reached into the plastic bag he was holding and pulled out a small, intricately embroidered white fabric. It was scorched at the edges and smelled faintly of old smoke.
"It’s a baptismal gown," Mark whispered. "It belonged to Thomas. She wrapped him in it after... after he died. Before the paramedics came."
I felt violently sick. "Why did she want it?"
"She didn't take this one," Mark said, his voice breaking. "She took mine. The one she made for me when I survived the burns. She told me..." He choked on a sob. "She told me she needs it for Leo. Because he’s going to survive the next cleansing."
"She's completely insane," I whispered. "Mark, she killed your brother. Your Aunt Martha told me everything."
Mark’s head snapped up. "Martha told you?"
"You knew?" I screamed, no longer caring who heard me. "You knew she killed a baby, and you still let her in our house?"
"I didn't know!" Mark yelled back, tears streaming down his face. "I swear to God, Elena. Martha only told me last year. When you got pregnant. She told me to keep Mom on a tight leash. But they swore it was an accident. They swore she was just a young, stupid mother who made a mistake with a folk remedy!"
"And you believed them?"
Mark looked down at his own hands. The guilt radiating from him was palpable, heavy and rotting. "I wanted to believe my mother wasn't a monster. I wanted our son to have a grandmother."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, blue glass bottle. He set it on the rolling tray next to Leo’s crib.
"What is that?" I asked, stepping back.
"It's the oil," Mark whispered, a tear dropping onto the linoleum. "The oil she used on Leo. She didn't bring it to the house, Elena."
My mind stopped working. I stared at the blue bottle.
"She asked me to buy it," Mark confessed, his voice dropping to a devastated whisper. "Two days ago. She said it was a special herbal blessing oil from the old country. For his christening. I bought it. I brought the weapon into our home."
The reversal hit me like a physical blow. The monster wasn't just at the door. The monster had been invited in by the man I trusted most in the world.
May you like
Before I could speak, Detective Reynolds stepped into the room. His radio crackled on his shoulder.
"Mr. Davis, Mrs. Davis," Reynolds said, his face harder than I had ever seen it. "Child Protective Services is downstairs. And based on what they're hearing about this family's history, they are petitioning for emergency custody of Leo."
