Chapter 5 - The Doctor’s Report
Elena stood up so fast her chair scraped loudly against the linoleum floor. I rose beside her, my hand instinctively resting on her shoulder to steady her.
“What did it show, Detective?” Elena asked, her voice trembling.
Miller flipped a page in his small notepad, his expression grim. “The lab found significant levels of Midazolam in her bloodstream. It’s a powerful sedative, typically used for procedural sedation in clinical settings. Administering this to a three-year-old outside of a hospital environment is not just illegal—it’s attempted poisoning. The doctor says she’s stable now, but she’s going to need to be monitored for the next twenty-four hours.”
A sound escaped Elena’s throat—half sob, half gasp—and I pulled her against my side, holding her tightly.
“We’ve dispatched a unit to Marcus and Clara’s residence,” Miller continued, slipping his pen into his pocket. “We also checked the registry at the Horizon Suites downtown under the name Kenneth Vance and Clara Vance. Room 412 was registered to them as a corporate suite. When our officers arrived to secure the room a few minutes ago, it was empty. They’d already checked out.”
“They ran,” I said, my jaw tightening until the bone ached. “They knew we found the key.”
“They’re running scared,” Miller agreed, pulling the clear evidence bag from the table. He inspected the nylon medicine pouch and the small glass vials inside. “Where did you say you found this?”
“Right beside the coffee table in my daughter’s living room,” I explained. “It fell out of Clara’s tote bag when Elena threw them out. Alongside the hotel key.”
Miller nodded slowly, turning the evidence bag over in his hands. “This changes everything. This isn't just a domestic dispute between in-laws. This is organized. These vials have serial numbers, Mr. Davis. Those numbers are traceable to a private research facility downtown—Vance Bio-Tech Solutions.”
Elena gasped. “Vance Bio-Tech? That’s Kenneth Vance’s company.”
“The very same,” Miller said, looking up from the bag with a sharp, calculating gaze. “I’m putting out an APB on Marcus and Clara, and we’re looping federal investigators into the pharmaceutical angle. But I need you to understand something, Ms. Davis. Kenneth Vance is not a man who gets his hands dirty. If he’s involved, he has layers of corporate insulation, high-priced lawyers, and security details that make serving a warrant very complicated.”
“I don't care about his lawyers,” Elena said, her eyes flashing with a fierce, protective light that reminded me so much of her mother. “He tried to drug my little girl. I want him in handcuffs.”
“We’ll do everything in our power,” Miller said, though his tone carried the heavy caution of a veteran cop who knew the limitations of the badge against corporate titans. “In the meantime, I’m assigning two uniformed officers to guard this hospital room. Do not leave this floor, and do not let anyone in unless they show you my badge or I escort them personally.”
After Detective Miller walked away down the sterile hallway, Elena and I returned to Maya’s bedside.
The little girl was sleeping peacefully now, her chest rising and falling in a steady, natural rhythm. The IV line in her hand was taped securely with transparent film, and the hospital gown hung loosely around her small shoulders.
I pulled a chair up beside the bed, sitting down with a heavy sigh. The adrenaline that had carried me through the fight in the living room was completely gone, leaving behind a profound, bone-deep exhaustion.
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“Dad,” Elena whispered from the other side of the bed, her fingers lightly brushing Maya’s hair. “You should go home and get some sleep. Change that bloody shirt. Let me handle the hospital tonight.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Elena,” I said, looking across the small bed at my daughter. “We started this together, and we’re going to finish it. Kenneth Vance picked the wrong family to mess with.”
