Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO CONTROLLED EVERYTHING
Victor Calder had worked for Gabriel Moretti for eleven years.
He managed shipping schedules, private security, household staffing, and travel logistics.
Gabriel trusted him with everything.
Or he had.
Detective Brooks requested Calder's travel records.
He had booked the triplets' medical transport.
Approved the two private nurses.
Arranged the first-class compartment.
And authorized a passenger upgrade under the name Claire Bennett.
I stared at the document.
"Why me?"
Naomi looked at me.
"That's what we're trying to establish."
Gabriel stood near the window.
His hands were clenched.
"Calder knew I needed someone who could feed the babies."
I looked up.
"What?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"One of the nurses suggested a lactation consultant might help. Calder said he'd arrange one."
I felt sick.
"So he chose me?"
Naomi nodded.
"Possibly."
"But I'm not a lactation consultant."
"No," she said. "You're a mother traveling alone."
My train ticket had been purchased through a discount service.
Three days later, someone upgraded it.
The upgrade confirmation appeared to come from customer service.
But the train company had no record of issuing it.
Someone had accessed my booking details.
Someone had known I would be traveling.
Naomi asked about my personal life.
I told her about my daughter.
My apartment.
My job cleaning offices at night.
The nursing program I had left when I became pregnant.
And the reason I had boarded the train.
I was traveling to Philadelphia for an interview at a medical billing company.
A job that might finally let me afford childcare.
Naomi wrote everything down.
Then asked:
"Who arranged the interview?"
I froze.
"An employment agency."
"Which one?"
I opened my email.
Found the confirmation.
Read the name.
Harbor Talent Solutions.
Gabriel turned sharply.
"What did you say?"
I looked up.
"Harbor Talent Solutions."
His face went white.
"That's one of Calder's companies."
I stared at him.
The room seemed to shrink.
The interview.
The train ticket.
The upgrade.
All of it.
A carefully arranged path leading me directly to Gabriel's children.
Naomi leaned forward.
"Claire, did anyone ask whether you were breastfeeding?"
I thought back.
The agency's application had included strange questions.
Family status.
Childcare availability.
Medical history.
I had assumed they were assessing my schedule.
Then I remembered one question.
Are you currently nursing an infant?
I had answered yes.
Naomi closed her notebook.
"We need the original application."
Gabriel looked at me.
"I'm sorry."
I stared.
"For what?"
"For letting someone use my family to endanger yours."
I wanted to hate him.
It would have been easier.
But through the hospital window, I could see three tiny bassinets.
Three babies without a mother.
And a father who had trusted the wrong man.
That evening, Naomi received preliminary laboratory results.
The babies had been exposed to a sedating medication not prescribed to them.
The source remained under investigation.
Gabriel gripped the back of a chair.
"Someone drugged my children?"
Naomi spoke carefully.
"That's one possibility we're investigating."
I looked toward the treatment room.
Leo slept beneath a warm blanket.
Oliver stirred.
Rose opened her tiny mouth and yawned.
My eyes filled.
May you like
Someone had tried to make three newborns quiet.
And when they didn't become quiet enough, someone had brought me onto the train.
