Chapter 1 - The Missing Pieces
The ambulance doors slammed shut, cutting off the sight of my daughter’s pale face.
I gripped my husband’s hand as the siren wailed into the fading afternoon light.
We were just about to pull away when my brother sprinted out the front door.
He was waving the tablet frantically above his head.
My husband rolled down the window, shouting for him to stay back so the rig could move.
But my brother ignored him and threw himself against the side of the ambulance.
"She didn't just take the almond jar," he screamed over the engine noise.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"What are you talking about?" I yelled back.
He shoved the screen through the window.
The video showed Lauren slipping back into the pantry while we were all distracted by the cake.
She wasn't holding the red-lidded jar anymore.
Instead, she was reaching for the high shelf where we kept the medical supplies.
I watched in horror as her hand closed around the bright yellow box.
It was the backup box of emergency injectors.
We always kept three in the house just in case of a defective pen.
Lauren tucked the box into her purse and walked out of the frame.
The ambulance lurched forward, forcing my brother to step back.
I turned to my husband, the dread pooling in my stomach.
If the first pen failed, we had absolutely nothing left to save her.
And right on cue, the paramedic in the back shouted a code that made my husband's blood run cold.
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The monitor strapped to Harper’s chest began screaming a flat, endless tone.
Her heart had stopped.
