I dropped the gift bag I was holding. The unicorn balloon slipped from my numb fingers, floating silently, uselessly, to the ceiling.
I dropped to my knees on the rug beside her small, still form.
“Lily?” I whispered, my voice cracking with sheer, unadulterated panic. “Lily, baby, wake up. It’s Auntie Maya.”
I gently, desperately shook her small shoulders. “Lily? Lily, wake up!” I begged, my voice rising in terror.
The child was entirely unresponsive. I pressed my ear to her back, listening for the sound of her breath. It was dangerously shallow, a faint, raspy flutter that was barely there.
I frantically dialed 9-1-1 on my cell phone, my trembling fingers barely able to unlock the screen. As I pressed two shaky fingers against the faint, thready pulse in her neck, screaming my address to the dispatcher, my eyes caught sight of something else.
Tucked partially beneath the skirt of the heavy velvet sofa, almost entirely hidden from view, was a strange, unlabeled, dark amber medicine bottle. It was the kind pharmacists used for prescription-grade medications. The child-proof cap was slightly askew.
A cold, terrifying premonition washed over me. This wasn’t a sudden illness. This wasn’t a tragic accident.
As I heard the wail of sirens approaching in the distance, I knew with absolute certainty that this was a crime scene. This was a medical emergency that was about to turn into a full-blown criminal investigation.
Chapter 2: The Perfect Mother
The emergency room hallway at St. Jude’s Pediatric Hospital was a blur of harsh fluorescent lights and the hurried, squeaking footsteps of nurses.
I sat hunched over in a hard plastic waiting room chair, my body trembling uncontrollably, my clothes still damp with the sweat of sheer terror. I had spent the last hour weeping, praying, and desperately trying to scrub the image of Lily’s pale, lifeless face from my mind while a team of doctors fought to stabilize her in a trauma room behind a set of heavy double doors.
The automatic sliding doors of the main ER entrance suddenly whooshed open.
Chloe stormed in.
