a small square between her fingers.
“Karen?”
She looked up.
“Yes.”
“I need to ask what your mother told you.”
Karen looked toward the elevator.
“She said she wanted a private family discussion.”
“About the baby?”
Karen swallowed.
“She said she wanted me to be there when she talked to Elena.”
“Did she say you were supposed to take Leo?”
Karen shook her head.
“No.”
“Did she say Elena had agreed to give him to you?”
“No.”
Mike waited.
Karen unfolded the receipt and flattened it against the Buick’s window.
“She said I should wait here until she came down.”
“Did she tell you why?”
Karen looked at the parking receipt.
“No.”
Mike wrote the time in his notes.
Karen looked at him.
“Is Elena all right?”
“She has Leo.”
Karen closed her eyes for a second.
“Then I need to see her.”
“You can tell me first what your
mother said.”
Karen nodded.
“She said Elena would understand once the papers were explained.”
“What papers?”
“I do not know.”
Mike waited again.
Karen looked toward the hospital entrance.
“She never said she was going to take the baby.”
Mike’s pen stopped.
“Did you agree to anything?”
“No.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
“Did you expect to leave with Leo?”
Karen shook her head.
“No, I never agreed to take Elena’s baby.”
Karen kept the receipt pinched between two fingers while the officer wrote something on his pad. She looked at the paper as if it had become evidence of a promise she had never made.
“Tell me exactly what your mother asked you to do,” the officer said.
Karen looked toward the elevator doors.
“She told me to wait here until she called.”
The officer wrote down the time. Karen glanced at the folded receipt again.
“She never said
I was supposed to take Leo.”
Upstairs, the nurse had brought Leo back to me before I could ask for him twice. He was wrapped in the hospital blanket, his face turned toward my shoulder, while another nurse checked the bandage on my arm and asked whether I was dizzy.
“I need Daniel,” I said.
The nurse handed me my phone.
I called him, and he answered on the second ring.
“Elena?”
“Your mother took Leo out of his bassinet.”
There was a pause.
“She what?”
“She picked him up and would not put him back.”
The nurse stopped adjusting the blanket and looked at me.
“Is Leo with you now?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s voice changed.
“Where is my mother?”
“The hospital is dealing with her.”
“I am coming back.”
“Bring the car seats if you have them.”
“I left them by the front door.”
“Then bring them.”
He hung up.
