Chapter 1 - The Secret in the Rubber
The metallic snip of the trauma shears echoed in the suddenly quiet room.
I peeled back the thick pink rubber of the rain boot.
The smell hit me first, a putrid wave of decay and copper that made my eyes water.
Nurse Sarah gasped, taking a sudden step back and covering her mouth.
It wasn't just blood.
Tucked between Lily’s bruised ankle and the side of the boot was a small, plastic sandwich bag.
It was smeared with dried red flakes and condensation.
Inside the bag was a severed human finger.
A delicate diamond wedding ring still stubbornly clung to the decaying flesh.
My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.
I had seen terrible things in my fifteen years as a pediatric surgeon, but this froze the blood in my veins.
Lily stopped crying and stared at me with hollow, terrified eyes.
"He said if I told, mommy would lose the rest of them," she whispered.
Before I could even process her words, a massive crash shook the glass doors of the trauma bay.
Greg had broken free from the security guards.
His face was contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage.
He locked eyes with me, and he saw the plastic bag resting on the sterile metal tray.
"You weren't supposed to look!" he roared, slamming his fist against the reinforced glass.
I quickly threw a sterile drape over the evidence and hit the emergency lockdown button.
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The heavy doors sealed shut, locking Sarah, Lily, and me safely inside.
But I knew a man like Greg wouldn't be stopped by a piece of glass.
