in the shower.

Why did she take them?

Because Trevor said if she was nervous, sad, clingy, jealous, or sick when the baby came, Emily would realize Sophie was not safe to be around the newborn.

Sophie said the drops tasted bitter and sour, like pennies and old lemons.

The first time, she threw up.

Trevor told Emily she had worked herself into a stomachache because she was jealous.

The second time, he filmed Sophie crying on the bathroom floor.

That detail nearly broke me.

Marlene asked, ‘Did he show the video to anyone?’

Sophie nodded.

‘Mommy.

He said, See?’

I remembered Emily telling me Sophie had been emotional lately.

Trevor had convinced her it was normal adjustment stress.

He had suggested Sophie might need to stay with me for a few weeks after the baby came so Emily could recover.

At the time, I had thought he was being practical.

Now I understood.

He was building a case.

He wanted Emily’s house, Emily’s baby, Emily’s gratitude, and none of the little girl who had been there before him.

A nurse came in and said Emily was asking for me.

She had delivered a healthy baby boy twenty minutes earlier.

The joy of that news landed in the same place as horror.

I kissed Sophie’s forehead and promised I would be right back.

Marlene stayed with her.

Security stayed outside.

Upstairs, the maternity ward was softer, dimmer, full of lullaby chimes and clean sheets.

Emily lay in bed holding her newborn son against her chest.

Her face was exhausted and glowing until she saw mine.

‘Where is Sophie?’ she asked.

I closed the door.

Trevor was not in the room.

A nurse later told me security had stopped him from returning after he became agitated downstairs.

I sat beside Emily and told her everything.

At first, she just stared.

Then she shook her head once, not in denial exactly, but like her mind was trying to reject a truth too monstrous to fit inside the room where her baby was sleeping.

‘No,’ she whispered.

‘He wouldn’t.’

I pulled out my phone and showed her Trevor’s text.

Why would you do that? She gets dramatic.

I’ll come get her.

Emily’s face crumpled.

Then Marlene came in with a police officer and Dr.

Patel.

They explained what Sophie had said.

They explained the test results.

They explained that because the newborn was also potentially vulnerable, Trevor would not be allowed near either child while the investigation began.

Emily looked down at her baby, then toward the empty chair where Trevor had been sitting earlier.

Her voice changed.

It went quiet and hard.

‘Check his bag,’ she said.

The officer asked what bag.

‘The black gym bag.

He brought it with the hospital stuff.

He said it had snacks and chargers.’

It was in the corner by the closet.

The officer did not open it casually.

There were procedures, gloves, another staff member.

I stood beside Emily while the baby slept against her chest, and we watched them remove items one by one.

A sweatshirt.

A phone charger.

A protein bar.

A toiletry pouch.

Then a small brown bottle tucked inside a rolled pair of socks.

Emily made a sound I will never forget.

Not a scream.

A mother’s heart recognizing the exact