Something was off. I could feel it in my gut, but I didn’t want to start a fight in front of my injured son.
“Well, the important thing is that you’re patched up now,” I said, though my mind was racing.
I stayed by the bed, stroking Howard’s hair while he drifted in and out of sleep. Jasper sat in the corner, staring at his phone.
That evening, a woman in navy scrubs walked in. Her badge read “Charge Nurse.” She was efficient and quiet, checking Howard’s vitals and scribbling on a chart.
I didn’t want to start a fight.
“Honey, you should go home,” Jasper said suddenly. “You have work in the morning. I’ll stay the night.”
“I’m fine. I’ll nap in the chair. I want to be here when he wakes up.”
The nurse glanced at me, then at Jasper, and finally at Howard. As Jasper reached out to adjust the boy’s blanket, Howard flinched.
It was a tiny movement, almost imperceptible, but the nurse saw it. I saw her expression shift from professional neutrality to something like concern.
As she finished up and walked toward the door, she brushed past me.
As Jasper reached out to adjust the boy’s blanket, Howard flinched.
Without looking down or slowing her pace, she pressed something into my palm. My fingers closed around it instinctively.
I waited until she left, and Jasper was looking at his phone again. I unfolded the yellow Post-it note.
HE’S LYING. CHECK THE CAMERA AT 3 A.M.
My mouth went dry.
I waited a few minutes, making a show of needing to find a vending machine. I stepped into the hallway and looked for the nurse. She was standing by the station, clicking a pen.
She pressed something into my palm.
“What do you mean?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
She didn’t look up from her paperwork. “We have observation cameras in every pediatric room. Both audio and video. Security records everything. If you want the truth, go to the security office at 2:55. Tell them I sent you. Sit down and watch Channel 12 at 3 a.m.”
That was it. She walked away before I could ask another question.
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