Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Ran
She made it three steps.
Then Detective Aaron Cole entered through the front door with two uniformed officers.
Allison collided directly with him.
“Ma’am,” Detective Cole said, catching her arms, “where are you going?”
“I need air.”
“You can have air after we speak with you.”
“You can’t detain me.”
“We can when a security camera appears to show you pushing a pregnant woman down a staircase.”
Allison’s eyes widened.
Behind the detective, an officer surveyed the foyer.
My phone lay beneath the console table.
The menu board from the baby shower sat near the wall.
Blood stained the marble floor.
And the security camera blinked quietly above us all.
“This is now a crime scene,” the officer said.
Allison turned desperately to Ethan.
“Tell them this is a misunderstanding.”
Ethan did not move.
“Tell them, Ethan.”
The paramedics lifted me onto the stretcher.
Pain tore through my lower back.
I cried out.
Ethan was beside me immediately.
Allison watched him.
Then her expression changed.
Something cruel returned.
“You think she’s carrying your baby?” she asked.
The foyer went silent.
Ethan looked at her.
“What did you say?”
Allison pressed her lips together.
Detective Cole stepped closer.
“Ma’am, stop talking.”
But she was already unraveling.
“You spent years building your perfect little life,” Allison said to Ethan. “The wife. The house. The company. The baby.”
“Enough,” Ethan said.
“But you never paid attention to what was right in front of you.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“Say exactly what you mean.”
Allison looked at me.
Then at my stomach.
And smiled.
It was a terrible smile.
“You always wanted a child,” she said. “You wanted one so badly that you never questioned the timing.”
The paramedic spoke firmly.
“Sir, we have to leave now.”
Ethan looked down at me.
Then back at Allison.
“You are not coming near her again.”
He climbed into the ambulance as officers placed Allison in the rear of a police vehicle.
As the doors began to close, I heard her scream through the rain.
May you like
“Ask Claire whose baby she’s carrying!”
Then the ambulance sped away.
