Chapter 7 - Erin's Chart
Erin visited me at Molly's house as a nurse, not a witness.
That distinction mattered to her.
"I can document what I observed and what you told me," she said. "I'm not going to pretend I saw things I didn't."
"Good."
I was starting to distrust anyone who offered certainty too easily.
She checked the dressing.
Healing.
Then she showed me a printout from the home-health agency.
Not secret evidence.
Routine scheduling logs.
Nine visits had been shortened or moved during the previous month.
The reason attached to six:
FAMILY REQUEST - PATIENT FATIGUED.
"I didn't request those."
"I know."
"Who did?"
"Scott called."
One canceled visit landed on the afternoon Molly had planned to come over.
Another on the day Grace asked to spend the night at home.
Another after Dr. Kent requested a private check-in with me.
I felt cold.
"He was creating empty time."
Erin did not answer beyond what the logs showed.
Good.
Then she pointed to another column.
Caller notes.
HUSBAND REPORTS PATIENT SLEEPING.
HUSBAND REPORTS PATIENT DOES NOT WANT SISTER PRESENT.
HUSBAND REPORTS PATIENT AGITATED BY CHILD VISIT.
"I wrote some of those based on what he told us," Erin said.
I looked at her.
"Do you blame yourself?"
She paused.
"Some."
"Why?"
"Because I accepted him as a convenient narrator."
That phrase stayed with me.
Convenient narrator.
Scott was articulate.
Calm.
Available.
I was vomiting in another room.
Of course people spoke to the person who could finish sentences.
Erin continued.
"But I'm not going to turn my regret into your responsibility either."
I smiled faintly.
"Monica has been training everyone."
"Aggressively."
She changed the dressing.
Then Grace came in from school.
She stopped when she saw Erin.
"You're the nurse who came back."
Erin nodded.
"I forgot my bag."
Grace stared at the black canvas bag near the chair.
"So if you remembered it..."
I knew where her mind went.
Erin did too.
She said, "Then something else would have happened."
Grace frowned.
"What?"
"I don't know."
No destiny.
No heroic mythology.
Just truth.
Later Grace told me she liked Erin because she didn't make the forgotten bag sound like magic.
I did too.
The next day Scott sent a message through the court-approved parenting app.
Not to me directly.
To Rachel Kim.
He wanted a supervised visit with Grace.
Grace said yes.
I hated how afraid that made me.
Rachel asked:
"Do you believe Scott will hurt her physically?"
"No."
"Do you believe he will pressure her emotionally?"
"Yes."
So the first visit occurred with a family therapist present.
Grace returned quiet.
I did not interrogate her.
At bedtime she came to my room.
"Dad says you only think he hurt you because everybody is telling you that's what happened."
My hands went cold.
I asked, "What do you think?"
Grace looked at me.
"I think that's a weird thing to say about someone else's pain."
Thirteen.
More accurate than most adults.
Then she added:
"He asked me whether you've been forgetting things at Molly's."
There it was.
Scott was still building the same story.
Just with a new audience.
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