Chapter 4 - THE PINK BUNNYBy midnight, the hospital had become a crime scene without officially calling itself one.
Police guarded Lily’s room. Greg Carter had been detained in a consultation room two floors away while his lawyer was contacted. CPS placed Lily under emergency protective custody. Chloe and Sarah stayed long past their shifts because neither wanted to leave.
I told myself I stayed because Lily was my patient.
That was only partly true.
Lily had wrapped two fingers around the sleeve of my white coat and asked, “Are you going to let him take me home?”
I had promised, “Not tonight.”
After that, leaving felt impossible.
Detective Hayes returned just after one in the morning. Her face was tighter than before.
“The lab opened the pouch,” she said quietly in the hallway.
I braced myself. “And?”
“Inside was Anna Carter’s hospital ID bracelet from the night Lily was born, a small house key, and a damaged flash drive wrapped in cloth.”
Sarah covered her mouth. “Anna’s ID?”
Hayes nodded. “There was also biological material on the cloth. We’ll wait for testing.”
My stomach turned.
“Why would he hide that on Lily?” Chloe asked.
Hayes looked through the glass at Lily sleeping under sedation. “Because no one searches a child’s rain boots during a missing-person investigation.”
The sentence made me furious in a way that felt physical.
Hayes continued. “We got a warrant for the Carter property based on the child’s statement.”
“The bunny?” I asked.
“We’re sending a team there now.”
Greg Carter’s house sat twelve miles from the hospital, a white colonial at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac where neighbors had once tied yellow ribbons around mailboxes for Anna. Hayes told us Anna’s disappearance had never made sense. There was no confirmed sighting after the night she vanished. Greg said she had walked out after an argument. Her car was found at a bus station three towns away.
But Anna’s sister had never believed it.
“Who is her sister?” I asked.
“Rachel Monroe,” Hayes said. “She’s been fighting Greg in court for visitation with Lily.”
“Did she know Lily was hurt?”
“She’s on her way.”
I looked back into the room.
Lily slept curled toward the door, as if danger always entered from there.
Hayes’s phone buzzed. She answered, listened, and went still.
Then she turned away from us and said, “Dig carefully.”
My pulse jumped.
May you like
When she ended the call, her voice was low.
“They found the pink bunny.”
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