Chapter 2 - the shortened crutch
Dr. Helen Ward examined Clara at Manhattan Children’s Orthopedic Center.
The ankle was badly sprained but not fractured. That should have relieved Adrien.
It did not.
The examination revealed bruises in several stages of healing, pressure wounds beneath Clara’s arms, and abrasions along her palms from repeated falls.
Dr. Ward placed the two crutches on an examination table.
“The left one is almost an inch shorter.”
“Could that happen accidentally?” Adrien asked.
“Not with this locking system.”
She showed him the metal adjustment pin.
Someone had removed it, shortened the crutch, and resealed the mechanism with adhesive. A child relying on both supports would constantly lean toward the weaker leg.
“She would lose her balance,” Adrien said.
“Yes.”
“Could it make her condition worse?”
“Repeated falls and improper alignment could create additional injury. At minimum, it would make walking appear much harder than it should.”
Clara sat on the hospital bed wearing a small gown. Her fingers remained wrapped around Adrien’s hand.
Dr. Ward crouched beside her.
“Did anyone change your crutch?”
Clara looked toward the door before answering.
“Seline takes them at night.”
“What does she say she’s doing?”
“Making them better.”
“Did they feel different afterward?”
Clara nodded.
“My shoulders hurt, and my right leg gets stuck.”
Adrien’s throat tightened.
He had seen Clara struggle during video calls. Seline always stood nearby, explaining that the child’s nerve damage was progressing.
She sent reports.
Medical summaries.
Therapy notes.
Adrien accepted them because they looked official.
Dr. Ward examined Clara’s medical file.
“Her original injury affected the peripheral nerve in her right leg, but the last scans performed here showed gradual improvement.”
Adrien stared at her.
“Seline told me the damage had become permanent.”
“Who told her that?”
“She said Clara’s physical therapist warned her.”
Dr. Ward checked the records.
Clara had missed seventeen therapy appointments in four months.
Each cancellation came through Seline’s email account.
The reasons included fever, exhaustion, aggression, and refusal to cooperate.
Clara remembered none of those illnesses.
“I wanted to go,” she whispered. “Seline said walking made me ugly.”
Adrien closed his eyes.
The police arrived while Dr. Ward continued documenting the injuries. Detective Mara Quinn listened to Adrien’s description of the foyer and examined photographs of the altered crutches.
Seline had already retained an attorney.
Her statement claimed Clara suffered an emotional episode, threw one crutch, and began falling before Seline could catch her.
Adrien had entered after the crutch moved.
“That’s false,” he said.
“Did the foyer camera capture it?” Mara asked.
Adrien contacted mansion security.
The foyer camera stopped recording ninety seconds before the incident.
The command came from Seline’s household tablet.
She claimed she disabled it because afternoon sunlight was triggering repeated motion alerts.
Mara did not accept the explanation, but a disabled camera could not prove the kick.
Then the mansion’s automation company called.
The visual feed was gone.
The ceiling intercom had continued recording audio for its emergency fall-detection system.
Mara played the recovered file.
Seline’s voice filled the hospital room.
“Stand properly and stop embarrassing me!”
A crutch crashed across the floor.
Clara pleaded:
“Please… I can’t stand without it.”
Then Seline answered in a quieter voice, one Adrien had not heard because he was still outside.
“If you fall hard enough today, the doctor will finally sign the placement papers.”
Adrien turned toward Dr. Ward.
“What placement papers?”
The doctor pulled up Clara’s pending referrals.
A request had been submitted to transfer her into a residential facility called Greenwood Pediatric Recovery.
The request claimed Clara could no longer live safely at home.
The applicant was Seline Mercer.
May you like
The proposed stay was twelve months.
👉 Seline had not shortened the crutch merely to punish Clara—she needed the child’s condition to appear severe enough for permanent removal.
