Chapter 1 - Again
My name is Thomas Reed.
I was thirty-nine years old when a pediatric emergency-room doctor told me my six-year-old nephew’s broken leg was older than the escape that had supposedly caused it.
Until that afternoon, I believed I understood the broad outline of my brother’s family.
My younger brother Jason was thirty-six.
His son Leo was six.
His daughter Maya was three.
Their biological mother, Amelia, had died two years earlier after complications from a sudden cerebral aneurysm.
Jason remarried fourteen months later.
Her name was Rachel.
Thirty-four.
Smart.
Organized.
Soft-spoken around people she wanted to impress.
I did not like her.
That fact would become inconvenient later because sometimes people are right about someone for the wrong reasons.
I thought Rachel was controlling.
I did not think she was dangerous.
There is a large distance between those two conclusions.
I had spent a year refusing to cross it.
At 1:17 that Tuesday afternoon, my phone rang while I was at work.
Unknown Columbus number.
I nearly ignored it.
Then answered.
“Thomas Reed?”
“Yes.”
“This is St. Anne Children’s Emergency Department. You’re listed as an emergency contact for Leo and Maya Reed.”
Everything inside me tightened.
“What happened?”
The nurse would not discuss much over the phone.
The children were conscious.
Leo had an injured leg.
Maya appeared physically stable.
Their father could not yet be reached.
Could I come?
I was in my truck before the call ended.
I learned the seven-block part from a patrol officer when I arrived.
Leo and Maya had been found near a neighborhood pharmacy several blocks from Jason’s house.
A delivery driver noticed Leo on the sidewalk struggling to move with Maya beside him.
Leo was supporting himself against fences, crawling when he could no longer stand, and trying to keep Maya close.
The driver called 911.
By the time paramedics arrived, Leo was pale, exhausted, and guarding his right leg.
Maya refused to separate from him.
She carried a worn brown teddy bear missing part of one ear.
The same bear Amelia had bought before Maya was born.
I entered the pediatric bay at 2:03.
Leo looked tiny on the hospital bed.
His right leg had been stabilized with a temporary splint.
Maya sat pressed against his left side.
Her bare knees were dirty.
One sock was missing.
She held the teddy under her chin.
Leo saw me.
His face collapsed.
“Uncle Tommy.”
I went to him.
Not too fast.
The nurse had warned me not to jostle the leg.
I leaned over.
“Hey, buddy.”
He reached for me.
I hugged his shoulders carefully.
Maya immediately grabbed my sleeve.
I put one arm around her too.
For a moment all three of us stayed like that.
Then I sat on the edge of the chair beside the bed.
I had a hundred questions.
Most of them were the wrong questions for a frightened child.
So I tried the simplest.
“Leo… how did your leg get hurt?”
His expression changed.
Fear.
Not pain.
Fear.
He looked toward the curtain separating us from the hall.
Then took Maya’s hand.
“She locked us downstairs again.”
I stared.
Again.
Not:
We fell downstairs.
Not:
The door got stuck.
Again.
I felt every muscle in my body tighten.
“Who—”
I stopped.
Do not lead him.
I knew that much.
Before I could find a better question, the curtain opened.
Dr. Aaron Patel entered holding an X-ray.
Mid-forties.
Dark blue scrubs.
His expression was serious enough that I stood automatically.
He looked at Leo first.
Then me.
“Mr. Reed?”
“I’m his uncle.”
“Okay.”
I pointed toward the image.
“Did he break it escaping?”
Dr. Patel looked at me.
Then raised the X-ray.
“No. This fracture didn’t happen today.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Leo lowered his eyes.
My mouth went dry.
“What does that mean?”
Dr. Patel did not answer immediately.
He looked toward the hallway.
Two uniformed police officers were approaching with a hospital social worker.
May you like
Then he looked back at me.
“And that isn’t the only thing we found.”
