Chapter 4 - THE BLUE FOLDEREmma woke just after sunset.
The monitor rhythm had stabilized.
Dr. Patel wanted at least forty-eight hours of observation.
I sat beside the bed in a plain gray T-shirt.
My uniform shirt had been taken as evidence because Diana claimed her blood might be on my sleeve.
Emma looked at the empty space on my belt.
“Where’s your badge?”
“With Captain Morgan.”
“Are you still sheriff?”
“I’m still your dad.”
Her face tightened.
“Did I get you in trouble?”
“No.”
“You came because I was bad.”
The words hit me harder than Diana’s complaint.
“Who told you that?”
“Miss Diana.”
“Emma.”
“You were not bad.”
“She showed me your name.”
“On what?”
“A paper.”
“What did it say?”
She looked toward the monitor.
“If it beeped twice, I had to stay forever.”
I felt cold.
“What else?”
“She said the second beep would prove you couldn’t take care of me.”
I kept my voice steady.
“Did she give you your medicine?”
Emma shook her head.
“She said medicine was for when I behaved.”
I closed my eyes.
Five seconds.
Then opened them.
“What happened before she put the chain on you?”
“I asked for water.”
“She said no.”
“Then I asked to call you.”
“She said you didn’t want me.”
“Did she ask you anything?”
Emma nodded.
“About Mom.”
“What about Mom?”
Her eyelids were already closing.
“She kept asking where Mom hid the blue folder.”
May you like
Laura had been dead eighteen months.
I had never heard of a blue folder.
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