Chapter 2 - THE DOCTOR WHO EXAMINED ME WITHOUT ME
Within forty minutes, Blue Lantern had become very real.
A Bangkok attorney called the hotel.
Then a consular-assistance liaison.
Then Serena again.
My remaining Carter accounts were locked against outside changes.
The trustee rejected Julian’s emergency request pending verification.
My credit cards were flagged.
My identity documents were marked as potentially compromised.
For the first time that morning, I could breathe.
Then Serena emailed the supposed medical report to the hotel business center.
I read it standing beside the printer.
PATIENT: AMELIA CARTER VANCE.
The document claimed I had suffered severe confusion, paranoia, emotional instability, and “possible dissociative behavior” during our vacation.
It recommended that I avoid independent international travel.
Physician:
DR. NOLAN PIERCE.
I knew that name.
Not from medicine.
From Thanksgiving.
Nolan was Evelyn’s cousin.
A psychiatrist from California.
I had met him twice in twelve years.
He had never examined me.
There was even a line claiming Julian brought me to a private clinic two days earlier.
Impossible.
Two days earlier, Maya and I had spent the entire afternoon at a cooking class.
There were photographs.
Receipts.
Hotel transportation records.
Witnesses.
“They fabricated a medical visit,” I whispered.
Serena replied:
“Apparently.”
Then she asked something strange.
“What did you drink last night?”
I thought back.
Dinner.
Sparkling water.
Dessert.
Then Evelyn brought tea to our suite.
“She gave me chamomile tea.”
“Did Julian drink it?”
“No.”
“Maya?”
“No.”
Only me.
I remembered being unusually tired.
Not sleepy.
Heavy.
As if the room had suddenly become too warm.
Serena said:
“I want you examined.”
Two hours later, a physician arranged through the hotel took blood and urine samples.
I felt ridiculous.
Until hotel security reviewed hallway footage.
At 4:18 a.m., Julian left the suite carrying two bags.
At 4:21, Evelyn returned with a hotel luggage cart.
At 4:23, she pushed it toward the elevator.
Maya was lying across the top beneath a blanket.
My daughter wasn’t walking beside them.
She appeared asleep.
I stared at the frozen image.
“What did they give her?”
Nobody knew.
Then security showed me something worse.
At 3:57 a.m., while I was still asleep, Evelyn had used a second keycard to enter our room.
Not Julian’s card.
A replacement guest key.
May you like
And the signature on the hotel request for that replacement key was mine.
Except I had never signed it.
Related Stories
