Chapter 2 - FIVE MINUTES IN THE GARAGE
Daniel returned twelve minutes after Marcus had been taken downstairs.
He entered carrying two coffees and wearing the expression of a man who had already decided what kind of surprise he expected.
When he saw the security supervisor beside my bed, the overturned IV pole, and Lily curled against Harper, one cup slipped from his hand. Coffee spread across the white tile.
“What happened?”
Lily turned her face away from him.
I had never seen her do that before.
“Marcus came into the room wearing a copy of your vendor badge,” I said.
Daniel’s eyes moved toward the supervisor too quickly.
“My badge is in my wallet.”
The supervisor held up a clear evidence sleeve. Inside was a laminated credential bearing Daniel’s company logo, employee number, and expired access stripe.
“It’s a reproduction,” he said. “A good one.”
Daniel checked his wallet with shaking fingers. His real badge was still there.
“Marcus must’ve photographed it,” he said. “Maybe at the house. Before the restraining order.”
Marcus had not entered our house in almost two years.
I watched Daniel realize that I knew that.
He sat beside the window and rubbed both hands over his face. “I don’t know how he found out you were here.”
Lily began picking at the rubber edge of her sneaker.
“Sweetheart,” I said, “how did you know he was coming?”
Daniel looked up.
Lily glanced at him once, then whispered, “I saw them downstairs.”
“Who?”
“Dad and Marcus.”
Daniel’s face tightened. He had been Lily’s stepfather for three years. She called him Dad only when she felt safe.
Now the word sounded like an accusation.
She told us Daniel had taken her to the hospital after school. In the parking garage, he asked her to wait inside the car while he spoke to someone near the elevators. Lily recognized Marcus through the wet windshield.
She climbed out and hid behind a concrete pillar.
“I heard Dad say, ‘Five minutes, then you leave,’” she said. “Then Marcus took something from his hand.”
Daniel stood so abruptly that the chair hit the wall.
“She misunderstood.”
Lily flinched.
I stared at him. “Then explain it correctly.”
He opened his mouth, but no answer came.
Harper stepped between Daniel and the bed. “The hospital social worker is on her way. Until Rachel says otherwise, you need to wait outside.”
“I’m her husband.”
“And she’s my patient.”
Daniel looked at me, waiting for me to defend him.
I didn’t.
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As he walked toward the door, Lily spoke without lifting her head.
“He knew our room number before Dad gave him the badge.”
