Chapter 9: What Happened to Luke
Detective Solis came back the following morning.
I was sitting up.
June was in the bassinet beside me — the real one, with the new ID band that Camille had triple-checked herself.
Eli was asleep in the recliner in the corner with a hospital blanket pulled to his chin.
Solis set a folder on the tray table.
"Luke was formally charged this morning," she said.
"Interference with custody.
Conspiracy.
Tampering with a medical security system.
Child endangerment."
"How many years?"
"That's for the courts to determine.
But the evidence is substantial.
His own text messages.
The security footage from the stairwell — he didn't know about the maintenance camera on the second landing.
It caught the whole thing." She paused.
"And Eli's statement."
I looked at him sleeping in the corner.
"He'll have to testify?"
"We'll do everything we can to limit that.
But his account of what he witnessed is the clearest timeline we have.
He was precise, Mrs.
Hartley.
Dates, times, specific words he overheard.
For a six-year-old—" She stopped.
"He's remarkable."
"I know."
"Renata has been charged as well.
Custodial interference.
Conspiracy.
Her attorney is arguing she was manipulated by Luke, that she believed the child had been willingly surrendered." Solis folded her hands.
"That argument may carry some weight, given the messages.
Given what Luke told her about you."
"She believed him," I said.
"She did."
I looked at the bassinet.
June's chest rising and falling.
The dark hair.
The small curled fists.
"What happens to her?"
"That's not my determination.
But she cooperated fully.
She stayed on the line with you.
She didn't run.
She handed June to the officer immediately." Solis looked at me carefully.
"What she did was wrong.
What she believed was a lie someone told her.
Those are two different things."
I didn't answer right away.
"Will she get Eli back?
Through the courts?"
"That petition is still open.
It will be significantly complicated by what happened here.
But that's a family court matter, not mine."
Solis stood and picked up the folder.
"Luke's attorney called this morning," she said at the door.
"He's asking about a deal.
Cooperation in exchange for reduced charges."
"What does he have to cooperate about?
You have the messages.
You have the footage."
"He's claiming there's a third party.
Someone who helped him access the security system schematics.
Someone inside the hospital."
The room went quiet.
"Who?"
"He hasn't given a name yet.
He's using it as leverage." Solis's expression didn't change.
"We'll find out.
We always do."
She left.
I looked at Eli sleeping in the corner.
Then I looked at June.
Then I picked up my phone and called my mother, because there are moments when you need to hear a voice that has known you your whole life, and this was one of them.
She answered on the second ring.
"How is she?" my mother asked.
May you like
"She's here," I said.
"She's right here."
