Chapter 15
“She was seventeen.”
The age struck me first.
Not a child, exactly. Not an adult either.
A girl standing at the edge of both.
“Her name was Lily,” he continued. “She came in after a boating accident. Her family brought her to us late. There was bleeding in her brain and severe swelling.”
His voice remained controlled, but I could hear how much effort it cost him.
“We operated for hours. We did everything we could. For a while, she stabilized. Then she deteriorated.”
“Did she die?”
He nodded.
“I was the attending surgeon.”
The hallway seemed to recede.
I remembered the night he had sat on the edge of our bed, shoulders shaking. The night I had asked if he was all right and he had said, “Rough night.”
“How long ago?” I asked.
“Eleven months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
His gaze fell.
“Because I thought I made a mistake.”
“Did you?”
“The review board said no. Dr. Patel said no. The scans showed the injury was not survivable by the time she arrived. But I kept replaying it.”
He rubbed his right hand with his left.
“I thought if I had moved faster, if I had taken a different approach, if I had noticed something sooner…”
“You believed she died because of you.”
“I knew logically that wasn’t true.”
“That isn’t the same as believing it.”
“No.”
I looked at Dr. Patel.
“Was this connected to his hand?”
“Stress can intensify symptoms,” she said carefully. “But the compression was physical. It didn’t cause the accident or the outcome.”
“Was the girl’s family told?”
“Yes.”
“Did they blame him?”
“No,” Dr. Patel said. “Her parents understood the circumstances. They were devastated, but they did not accuse Marcus.”
“Then who is this woman?”
Marcus answered before anyone else could.
“Lily’s aunt.”
I stared at him.
“You know her?”
“She came to the hospital several times after Lily died. She wanted copies of the records. She asked questions about the procedure.”
“Did she threaten you?”
“No.”
“Did she say she would come to our house?”
“No.”
“Then why was she there?”
“I don’t know.”
Mrs. Alvarez was still on the phone.
“Claire,” she said gently, “I can take Emily to my house if you need to stay at the hospital.”
“Thank you. Please do that. I’m coming home as soon as I can.”
Marcus reached for my arm.
“You shouldn’t drive alone.”