Chapter 11: Cora
Cora Vance answered on the second ring.
Terrence had stepped into a quiet corridor outside the cafeteria, Diane beside him, the call on speaker between them.
"Ms.
Vance, my name is Officer Terrence Callahan.
I'm calling from Mercy General Hospital in—"
"Is it the girls?" Her voice was immediate.
"Is it Charlotte and Delilah?"
"They're safe," he said.
"They're here with me.
But I need to ask you about your sister."
A sound came through the phone that was not quite a word.
"Ms.
Vance, when did you last speak with Vivienne?"
"Fourteen months ago," Cora said.
"She called me from a number I didn't recognize.
She was whispering.
She said she was okay, she was somewhere safe, but she couldn't tell me where.
She said Douglas had been giving her something in her food.
She said she'd been sick for almost a year before she figured out what was happening.
She said she left the night she understood it — just walked out while he was at a conference."
Diane's pen had stopped moving on her notepad.
"Did she say what he was giving her?" Terrence asked.
"She didn't know the name.
She said it made her confused.
Tired.
She said there were days she couldn't remember.
She said she thought she was losing her mind and then one day she found a bottle in his desk and she looked it up and she understood." A pause.
"She said she was going to get the girls.
She said she just needed a little more time to get settled somewhere safe.
And then she stopped calling."
"Did you report it?"
"I called the police in their county.
They told me there was no evidence of anything, that Vivienne had left voluntarily, that if she wanted to contact her children she could do so through the family court.
They told me Douglas had full custody and there was nothing to investigate." Her voice tightened.
"I called twice more.
Same answer."
"Do you know where Vivienne is now?"
"I got one more call.
Eight months ago.
Different number again.
She said she was still safe.
She said she'd been trying to find a way to get documentation — proof of what he did — before she tried to get the girls.
She said without proof she'd never win in court.
She said Douglas had friends everywhere." Cora stopped.
"And then nothing.
Eight months of nothing.
I've been terrified."
"Ms.
Vance," Diane said, "we're going to need a formal statement from you.
Everything you just told us.
Can you come to this hospital today?"
"I'm already looking up flights," Cora said.
Terrence ended the call.
He stood in the corridor for a moment.
"Vivienne figured it out," he said.
"She left to protect herself so she could come back for the girls.
And then she went silent."
"Which means either she found what she was looking for," Diane said, "or something stopped her."
Terrence looked at his phone.
There was a message from Okafor: *DA office confirmed formal interview with Sinclair at 2 p.m.
Medical board investigator arriving at 3.
Lt.
Garrett placed on administrative leave pending internal review.
Camera tampering confirmed.*
He read it twice.
Then he walked back to the cafeteria, where Charlotte had finished her toast and was drawing something on a paper napkin with a pen Ruth had given her.
He sat down across from her.
"Charlotte," he said.
"Can I ask you something?"
She looked up.
"Your mom.
Do you remember her?"
Charlotte's expression shifted into something careful and old.
"She smelled like lemons," she said.
"She used to put lemon in her water.
Every morning."
"Do you know why she left?"
Charlotte looked at her drawing.
She had drawn two figures, small and identical, holding hands.
"Daddy said she got sick in her head," she said.
"But I don't think that's true."
"Why not?"
"Because the last time I saw her, she wasn't sick.
She was scared." Charlotte looked up.
"There's a difference."
Terrence looked at the drawing.
May you like
"Yes," he said.
"There is."
