“Should I keep this and show it to Robert on Saturday?” I asked.
Ellie looked at me pointedly. “Definitely.”
CHAPTER17
FOR MY THIRTY-FOUR-WEEKcheckup, I decided to go alone. I didn’t even tell Max I had a doctor’s appointment—and Mom and Ellie were both busy.
Walking into the clinic, I felt strange, exposed. The last time I was here, I had a total meltdown. A justified meltdown—but it probably hadn’t been fun to watch. The smiles of all the staff members as they greeted me had an air of sympathy to them. I didn’t like being pitied, but I suppose sympathy was warranted.
“Well, everything looks good—I’d say you have nothing to worry about,” the doctor said after my exam.
I sighed with relief. “Speaking of things to worry about—were you able to find out anything from DCS?”
“No, I haven’t—and that’s what’s puzzling me. I called the local DCS office and gave them your name, and the name of the investigator who came to your apartment. The person I spoke with couldn’t see any open cases in the system linked to either of you. He’s going to talk to his supervisor about doing a wider search and get back to me.”
I chewed on my lip. Was that good or bad? Could it possibly mean that my case had been closed, since my toxicity tests wereclean? Was that why nothing was showing up in the system?But I thought she said they had to monitor me all the way up to birth?
“My advice is, try not to think about it too much. All of your tests have come back perfectly normal, and I’m sure all your character witnesses had only wonderful things to say.”
I smiled weakly. “Thanks, Dr. Quinlan.”
As for the leak of my medical information, she said she was still interviewing all the staff members and would let me know soon what she was able to determine.
As I left the exam room, someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind.
It was Jamie—my spy.
“I’m about to go on my break,” she whispered. “Can we please talk?”
She wasn’t getting her phone back, if that’s what she was after. But maybe I could pump her for information. “Fine,” I said tersely.
I met her around the side of the building a few minutes later. We walked down the street into a more residential area, where there was a small city park with benches, and sat down.
“What do you want?” I said.
“I … was hoping I could have my phone back? I can’t afford a new one, and I have to have a way to stay in touch with my babysitter. In case anything happens with my son.”
I leaned forward. “Look, I need answers. You were spying on me for Madison Clark, weren’t you? She’s the ‘Her’ in your phone?”
Her eyes shot up quickly and met mine. “You looked in my phone?”
“Yeah, I did. I saw all the photos of me, and all the text messages between you and someone called ‘Her.’ That’s Madison Clark, isn’t it?”
Her cheeks were bright red. “Look, I’m sorry. For all of that. But I had no choice. Madison made me do it.”
“Why? Why does she keep messing with me?”
“Well, she’s incredibly jealous that you’re having Max’s baby. That’s the one thing she’s always wanted.”
“They’re married, aren’t they? She tried to get pregnant and couldn’t—am I right?”
She nodded. “I don’t know the specifics, but she has some kind of condition. I think it runs in her family.”
I chewed on this information for a second. “She cloned my phone, didn’t she?”
She nodded. “Yeah. She copied your SIM card and put it into a burner phone. I’m pretty sure it was her mom’s idea.”
“Her mom?”
