Chapter 10: The First Forty-Eight Hours
Chloe remained in the hospital through Friday under observation for the concussion and the residual effects of the hypothermia. I stayed in the room during the day and slept in the chair at night. The nurses stopped suggesting the family lounge after the second attempt. Marcus’s name was now attached to a booking number and a set of charges that included assault, false imprisonment, and reckless endangerment. Sylvia had been released after questioning but remained under the emergency protective order that barred her from any contact with Chloe or from returning to the Oakmont house until further court review. The third woman had given a limited statement and disappeared from the immediate frame. The dining table that had been set for a CEO and a mistress was still being treated as part of a crime scene; technicians had removed the wastebasket contents, the damaged clothing, and several items from the hallway for processing.
I used the quiet hours to organize. I forwarded the preserved call recording and my contemporaneous notes to the assigned prosecutor’s office. I arranged for a locksmith to change the locks on Chloe’s own apartment, which Marcus still had a key to. I contacted Chloe’s employer with a brief, factual medical absence notice that required no elaboration. Each task was small, concrete, and aimed at closing the practical openings Marcus and Sylvia had previously used. Emotion remained secondary. Sequence remained primary.
