Chapter 2 - The Appointment She Never Told Him About
Daniel read the hospital document twice before the meaning reached him.
High blood pressure. Additional fetal monitoring recommended. December 25, 8:30 a.m.
Christmas morning.
His wife was eight months pregnant, frightened enough for her doctor to schedule an examination on Christmas morning, and Daniel had spent the previous night sitting beside another woman.
The shame landed harder than jealousy ever could.
He called the number printed at the bottom of the page.
A tired receptionist answered.
“My wife is Emma Carter. She had an appointment this morning.”
There was a pause.
“Mr. Carter, I can’t discuss a patient’s medical information without authorization.”
“I understand. I just need to know if she came in.”
Another pause.
Daniel heard typing.
“Sir, if you’re concerned for her immediate safety, you should contact emergency services.”
His stomach tightened.
“Did she come in?”
“I’m sorry.”
The answer told him enough.
Daniel hung up and called Emma’s obstetrician, Dr. Maya Reynolds. The call went to the emergency answering service. He left a message, then paced the nursery.
Something beneath the hospital paper caught his attention.
A business card.
Dr. Samuel Bennett — Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
On the back, in Emma’s handwriting, were four words.
Ask about the test again.
Daniel’s breathing slowed.
What test?
His phone rang.
He grabbed it.
“Emma?”
“Daniel, it’s Rachel.”
He closed his eyes.
“What?”
Rachel sounded startled by his tone. “You left your gloves here.”
“I don’t care about my gloves.”
Silence.
Then Rachel asked, “What happened?”
“Emma’s gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?”
Daniel told her.
Rachel did not interrupt. When he finished, she remained quiet for several seconds.
Then she said, “Daniel, there’s something you should know.”
His hand tightened around the phone.
“What?”
“Emma came to see me.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
Daniel sat down slowly on the edge of the crib.
“Why?”
“She asked me if I still loved you.”
Daniel could hear his own heartbeat.
“And what did you say?”
“I told her the truth. I said a part of me will probably always care about the person you were when we were twenty-two. But I’m not trying to take you from your wife.”
Daniel stared at the unfinished nursery wall.
“What did Emma say?”
“She smiled.”
That smile again.
The polite, fragile smile Emma used when she was trying not to fall apart.
Rachel continued.
“Then she asked me something strange.”
“What?”
“She asked whether I would take care of you if something happened to her.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“I thought she was being emotional because she was pregnant. I told her nothing was going to happen.”
“What exactly did she say?”
“She said, ‘Promise me he won’t be alone.’”
Daniel stood so quickly that the crib rattled.
He called Dr. Reynolds again.
This time she answered.
“Daniel?”
“Where is Emma?”
“I was about to ask you the same question. She missed her appointment.”
His blood went cold.
“What test did she have?”
A long silence followed.
“Daniel, Emma specifically asked me not to discuss certain information with you.”
“She’s missing.”
That changed everything.
Daniel heard the doctor exhale.
“Come to the hospital.”
Twenty minutes later, he entered St. Matthew’s Medical Center with snow melting across the shoulders of his coat.
Dr. Reynolds met him inside a private consultation room.
She was in her forties, composed but visibly concerned.
“Emma’s blood pressure has been unstable,” she explained. “We were monitoring her for preeclampsia.”
Daniel knew the word but little else.
“Is the baby in danger?”
“Potentially. Emma too.”
His face drained.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“You’ll have to ask Emma.”
“Tell me everything.”
Dr. Reynolds hesitated.
“There was another concern.”
Daniel remembered the handwritten note.
“The test.”
Dr. Reynolds looked surprised.
“You found it?”
He nodded.
She opened Emma’s chart.
“During an ultrasound, we noticed something that required further investigation. We were concerned about Emma’s heart function because she’d reported shortness of breath, fatigue, and episodes of dizziness.”
Daniel remembered every time Emma had stopped halfway up the stairs.
He had blamed pregnancy.
Every time she had sat down while preparing dinner.
Pregnancy.
Every time she had pressed a hand to her chest and said she was tired.
Pregnancy.
“We referred her for additional cardiac testing,” Dr. Reynolds said. “The initial results weren’t definitive, but they were concerning enough that we wanted her evaluated again immediately.”
Daniel felt physically sick.
“Did she think she was dying?”
“I don’t know what Emma believed.”
But Daniel did.
He remembered Rachel’s words.
Promise me he won’t be alone.
His phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
Daniel answered immediately.
“Hello?”
A man spoke.
“Is this Daniel Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Officer Lewis. Your number was listed as an emergency contact.”
Daniel gripped the table.
“Where is my wife?”
“We located a vehicle registered to Emma Carter.”
“Where?”
“Near the interstate.”
Daniel was already moving.
“Is she there?”
“No, sir.”
He stopped.
“What do you mean?”
“The vehicle was abandoned.”
Thirty-five minutes later, Daniel stood beside Emma’s car under falling snow.
The driver’s door was unlocked.
Her overnight bag was gone.
Her phone lay beneath the passenger seat.
And there was blood on the steering wheel.
Not much.
Just a few dark drops.
But enough to make Daniel’s knees weaken.
Officer Lewis stopped him from touching anything.
“We found something else.”
He handed Daniel a transparent evidence bag.
Inside was Emma’s wedding ring.
Daniel stared at it.
His wife had taken off the ring he had placed on her finger two years earlier.
For the first time, he understood that Emma had not simply run away.
She had been preparing for a life without him.
Or preparing him for a life without her.
Then Officer Lewis spoke again.
“There’s one more thing.”
He held up a gas-station receipt found inside the car.
It had been printed at 4:18 that morning.
On the back, someone had written an address.
Daniel recognized the handwriting immediately.
It was not Emma’s.
May you like
And beneath the address were five words that made his blood run cold.
DON’T LET DANIEL FIND YOU.
