Chapter 5: Everything She Had Already Done
The lab results came back in thirty-six hours.
The residue on the plate matched the compound in the bottle.
The concentration was high enough, the toxicologist told the detective, to induce premature labor in a woman at my stage of pregnancy.
At eight months, the risks to the baby would have depended on how fast help arrived.
Help had not been called.
I was sitting up in the hospital bed when Detective Reyes came to take my full statement.
She was a small woman with close-cropped hair and a voice that didn't waste words.
She set a recorder on the table beside my water cup and asked me to start from the beginning.
I told her everything.
The bottle.
The smile.
The plate moving toward the sink.
The water running.
"Has your mother-in-law expressed any opposition to your pregnancy?" Detective Reyes asked.
I looked at Ryan.
He was standing near the window again, arms crossed.
"From the beginning," I said.
"Can you be specific?"
I thought about where to start.
"She told Ryan, three weeks after we announced the pregnancy, that she thought we were moving too fast.
That I wasn't ready.
That he should consider his options." I paused.
"He told me about it the same night.
I didn't say anything to her because Ryan asked me not to."
"What else?"
"She came to our house twice without being invited in the second trimester.
Once when Ryan was at work.
She walked through the nursery and told me the crib placement was wrong.
That the room was too small.
That raising a child in Dallas was a mistake." I stopped.
"She kept calling the baby 'it' until Ryan corrected her at dinner one night."
Detective Reyes wrote without looking up.
"Did she ever say directly that she didn't want you to have the child?"
Ryan uncrossed his arms.
"She said it to me."
The detective looked at him.
"About two months ago.
We argued about something else — money, the house — and she said that Emily had changed everything.
That I'd been manipulated into a situation I didn't want." He came away from the window and sat down.
"I told her she was wrong.
She said I'd understand eventually."
"Did you tell your wife about that conversation?"
Ryan looked at me.
"No."
I hadn't known.
I looked at him and he held my gaze and I could see it cost him something to say it out loud in this room.
"I didn't want to upset her," he said.
"She was already seven months along.
I thought my mother would come around."
Detective Reyes made a note.
"Mr.
Callahan, did your mother ever mention the substance found on the plate?
Any herbal compounds, supplements, anything along those lines?"
"No.
But — " He stopped.
"Go ahead."
"Her sister had a miscarriage twelve years ago.
My aunt.
My mother talked about it sometimes.
She knew a lot about it.
What caused it.
What could have prevented it." He paused.
"What made it worse."
The room was quiet.
"She researched this," I said.
It wasn't a question.
Nobody answered.
Nobody needed to.
Detective Reyes clicked off the recorder and gathered her notes.
"The DA's office will review the lab results and the footage together.
I'll be in touch within the week." She stood.
"Mrs.
Callahan.
Is there anyone you'd like us to contact?
Family who should know what's happened?"
"My mother," I said.
"She's in Phoenix.
I'll call her myself."
"All right." She picked up the recorder.
"One more thing.
Margaret Callahan contacted our office this morning through her attorney.
She's claiming the substance was a prenatal herbal supplement she purchased at a health food store and added to your food as a kindness, without realizing it could cause a reaction."
I stared at her.
"She's saying it was an accident," Detective Reyes said.
"I want you to know that before her attorney says it to you directly."
After she left, Ryan and I sat without speaking for almost a minute.
"An accident," he finally said.
"She looked around first," I said.
"You saw the footage."
"I know."
"She knew where the camera was."
"I know, Emily."
"And she still — " I stopped.
Put my hand on my stomach.
Our daughter moved.
A slow roll, like a question.
"She's going to fight this," I said.
"Yes."
"And she's going to use you to do it."
Ryan looked at the door where Detective Reyes had gone.
Then he looked at me.
"Let her try," he said.
But that night, after he fell asleep in the chair beside my bed, his phone lit up on the table.
A message from a number I didn't recognize.
*Ryan needs to know the truth about who you really are.
May you like
I have proof.
Call me.*
