Standing from his chair, he moves closer to my bed just as Dr. Morgan says, “I requested to talk to you both before the authorities are called in.”
My eyes widen as they dart between Nick and Dr. Morgan.Why would the authorities need to be brought in?
Dr. Morgan answers my silent question by asking, “Have either of you heard of a drug called Misoprostol?”
Nick and I shake our heads.
“What is misop. . .” Nick attempts to question.
“Misoprostol,” Dr. Morgan fills in, “is an abortion drug usually found on the black market in Brazil.” My panic surges right alongside my confusion. “If you search hard enough, small amounts of it can be found stateside.”
When his stern yet worried gaze shifts to me, my pulse spikes. He hasn’t directly said he believes I’ve taken Misoprostol, but his eyes are holding a lot of suspicion.
“I would never. . . I didn’t,” I stumble nervously, trying to inform him I’d never intentionally harm Jasper.
While my eyes burn from a sudden rush of moisture, Dr. Morgan pulls over a hard plastic chair and sits close to my bedside. I angrily brush away the tears dripping down my face before he secures my hands in his. “The doctor at your delivery ordered a blood workup in case you needed a blood transfusion. We found a high dosage of Misoprostol in your bloodwork.” He squeezes my hands, which are gripping his so firmly, my nails are digging into his skin. “Now I know at the start, you were considering going down this path—”
“I would never, I never took anything,” I interrupt, my words barely heard over the sob tearing from my throat. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.”
I lift my gaze to Jasper, who is cradled in Nick’s arms. Nick is watching the exchange between Dr. Morgan and me with his brows stitched together tightly. He looks like he wants to jump in, but with his eyes flicking like he’s recalling a memory, he’s a little preoccupied.
Faster than I can snap my fingers, the confusion on his face evaporates. The temperature in the room turns scorching when he lowers his eyes to mine. Nothing but sheer terror is reflecting in his beautifully tormented eyes. “Who made you that herbal tea?” His words come out in a hurry.
“A lady I met at Dr. Morgan’s office,” I answer as Dr. Morgan’s head bounces between Nick and me.
“What was her name?”
“Katrice, her name is Katrice,” I respond, wondering why it would matter.
When I say the name Katrice, Nick sighs, and the anger burning in his eyes lessens.
His relief doesn’t last long. “I don’t have a patient called Katrice.” Dr. Morgan sounds as confused as I feel.
I stop taking in his flushed cheeks when Nick asks me, “What does Katrice look like?”
I screw up my nose. “Umm. . . light brown hair that sits just above her shoulders and hazel eyes. Oh, and she has a chipped front tooth.”
Nick curses harshly before rushing to place Jasper back in his crib. He presses a hurried kiss to my sweaty forehead before requesting to speak to Dr. Morgan outside. When Dr. Morgan agrees, Nick tells me he’ll be back in about an hour, and that everything is fine before darting out of my room, leaving me utterly dumbfounded.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Nick
“Is there a way to test a liquid to find out if it was spiked?” I question Dr. Morgan when he joins me in the corridor outside of Jenni’s hospital room.
I have no doubt Jenni would never intentionally harm Jasper. It just took me a little while to realize what was happening. The morning I asked Jenni about the funny tea she was drinking was the day she gave birth. She said the tea was from a friend, and it was to help the baby. I didn’t consider at the time that she was the first out of her friends to have children, meaning she wouldn’t have been given the tea from Emily or Nicole.
When she said the tea was gifted by a friend she met at Dr. Morgan’s office, I was relieved. . . until Dr. Morgan disclosed he had no patient by that name at his clinic. The instant Jenni said Katrice had a cracked front tooth, I knew she was Megan. If you can ignore the crazy in her eyes, Megan’s cracked tooth is the only flaw in her looks.
My thoughts return to the present when Dr. Morgan says, “I’m sure if you have a sample, I could arrange for someone to test it.” He stares at me, years of life experience making him infer there is more to my query than I’m letting on. “Why, what’s going on Nick?”
“I think Jenni may have taken the drug unwillingly.”
His brows pull together as a mask of confusion slips over his face. I give him a brief rundown of everything that has happened with Megan, including the paternity case, her crazy stalking, and how I was concerned she may be dangerous.
He’s shocked but keeps his head in game mode. “I’ll arrange for a security officer to be placed outside of Jenni and Jasper’s room, but I strongly suggest you contact the authorities.”
While he calls hospital security, I call Ryan, a detective from Ravenshoe Police Station. He requests I meet him at the house I share with Jenni so he can collect a sample of the tea stored in our refrigerator.
