Chapter 2 - The False Victim
"Put your hands where we can see them, sir," the taller officer commanded, stepping between me and the doctor.
I raised my hands instantly, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
"You don't understand, she's lying!" I shouted, desperation leaking into my voice.
"Look at the X-rays, ask the doctor, she has been abusing those kids for months!"
Reena collapsed into a waiting room chair, sobbing so convincingly that even I would have believed her if I didn't know the truth.
"He's been obsessed with them ever since my husband died," she cried to a nurse who rushed to comfort her.
"He stalks our house, he calls us constantly, and tonight he finally snapped and stole them from their beds."
The second officer grabbed my arms, twisting them behind my back with brutal efficiency.
The cold metal of handcuffs clicked securely around my wrists, biting into my skin.
"The doctor has evidence!" I pleaded, looking frantically at the medical professional who was now backing away slowly.
The doctor cleared his throat nervously, looking at the police officers.
"The boy does have old injuries, officers, but I cannot legally prove who inflicted them."
Reena covered her face with her hands, hiding a tiny, wicked smirk that only I could see from my angle.
"He hurt my little boy just to frame me," she wailed loudly for the whole room to hear.
They dragged me toward the exit, the sliding glass doors opening to the cold night air.
I was going to lose them, and Reena was going to take them back to that house of horrors.
Just as the officers pushed me toward the flashing lights of the police cruiser, a pediatric nurse ran out of the sliding doors.
"Wait, officers, stop right there!" the nurse yelled, waving a small notebook in the air.
The cops paused, looking back at the frantic woman in blue scrubs.
"I just interviewed the three-year-old girl, Lily, while she was getting her fluids," the nurse said breathlessly.
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She looked directly at Reena with a gaze full of pure disgust.
"The little girl said her mommy didn't hurt her brother today, she said the man in the walls did it."
