Chapter 6
Dr. Hale opened the motel room door holding a beer, his eyes bloodshot, his hands shaking.
He tried to close it when he saw Ray’s badge.
But Ray’s boot was already in the crack.
“We’re not here to arrest you,” I said, pushing past them into the room.
“Not yet, anyway.”
Dr. Hale backed up, tripping over a suitcase, beer sloshing down his shirt.
The room was a mess—empty pizza boxes, pill bottles scattered across the nightstand, a photo of a little girl taped to the mirror.
His daughter.
“I didn’t want to do it,” he said, before I even asked.
Tears spilled down his face.
“They said they’d kill my Lucy if I didn’t. She’s 10. She has asthma, same as your Mia. I couldn’t let them hurt her.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed, my voice steady even though my heart was breaking.
“Tell me what you did,” I said.
He took a deep breath, his whole body trembling.
“Lila came to me three weeks before Mia died,” he said.
“She told me about the trust. Said if I helped her make Mia’s death look like an asthma attack, she’d give me $200,000. Enough to pay off my debts, get Lucy the care she needs.”
He paused, wiping his face with his sleeve.
“The night Mia was admitted, Lila snuck into her room. She injected a drug called digoxin into her IV. It causes fatal arrhythmia, looks exactly like a severe asthma attack on an EKG. I was on call. I signed the death certificate before anyone could run a toxicology screen.”
He reached into his suitcase, pulling out a small glass vial wrapped in a plastic bag.
“This is what’s left,” he said.
“I kept it. I knew they’d double-cross me eventually. And I have all the texts. Lila and Jake sent me step-by-step instructions. Threats against Lucy every single day.”
He handed me the vial and his phone.
The texts were worse than I could’ve imagined.
Do it tonight or the kid gets it.
One wrong move and Lucy’s asthma attack will look like an accident too.
I closed my eyes, seeing Mia’s face.
Feeling her go still in my arms.
“Will you testify against them?” I asked.
Dr. Hale nodded, sobbing.
“Anything,” he said.
“I’ll go to prison for the rest of my life. I deserve it. But please, protect my daughter. Don’t let them hurt her.”
Ray put a hand on my shoulder.
“We will,” he said.
“I’ve already got child protective services on standby. Lucy will be safe with her aunt until this is over.”
As we left the motel, the sun was setting.
I had everything I needed.
The recording.
The vial.
The texts.
A witness.
May you like
Tomorrow, I was going to the police.
And Lila and Jake were finally going to pay for what they’d done.
