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I almost drop the phone. My hand clamps down on my mouth to stifle the scream rising in my throat.
“What?!”
“Oui!” She almost screams herself. “I am at the hospital with him now! The doctors are helping him slowly come out of his sleep, and he’s waking up!”
I start to sob big, happy tears of utter relief.
“How?!” I blurt.
Curiously, Rosa doesn’t immediately respond.
“Rosa?”
“Ms. LeBlanc,” she says quietly, caution suddenly in her voice. “I… Are you safe?”
My brows furrow. “Yes?”
“I mean really, Eloise,” she murmurs.
“I’m safe, Rosa.” I frown as I wet my lips. “I’m actually not even with Massimo. I’m…hiding.”
“Bien,” she exhales. “I don’t mean to frighten you, it’s just…”
“What the hell is going on, Rosa?”
“Eloise, you know I’m a registered nurse, oui?”
I do. It’s required for her in order to be my father’s full-time caretaker, given his condition.
“Yes. And?”
“I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned that I’ve been working as a private caretaker while I am back at medical school, studying to be a doctor. Neurologist,” she clarifies.
“No, I didn’t…” I swallow. “That’s wonderful, Rosa?—”
“That isn’t why I’m calling,” she says cautiously. “Eloise, your father had a doctor who would visit once a month and bring the various IV drugs that he needed while he was in his coma. Except that doctor was due a few days ago, and never came. I called, but his mobile number had been disconnected.”
I frown.
“Obviously I didn’t want your father to go without his meds. One of my professors at school said she could fill the script for me, so long as she knew specifically what the prescriptions were for. I didn’t know, so I brought an empty IV bag for her to test.”
My frown deepens. “Rosa, what?—”
“Eloise, the doctor who stopped coming wasn’t giving your father medicine,” she hisses urgently. “He was giving him Propofol.”
“I’ve never heard of that. What’s?—”
“It’s a nonbenzodiazepine sedative, Eloise,” she says, her voice tinged with fear. “They use it to put and keep people in medically induced comas.”
It feels like I’ve been punched in the chest. The air leaves my lungs. My throat closes. I stumble backward until I fall back into a sitting position on the edge of the bed, numb.
What the FUCK.
“I’ve given the police the name of the doctor who disappeared. I have a picture, too. Can I text it to you, as well? In case you recognize him?”
I’m unable to speak.
“Eloise,” she says softly. “I’m so, so sorry. But your father, he’s going to be okay! They’re going to gently wean him off the Propofol and he’ll be up as soon as?—”
