Chapter 3 - The Toxicology Report
The stark white lights of the Intensive Care Unit blinked slowly as I drifted back into consciousness. My mouth was dry, tasted like copper, and my entire body felt as if it had been beaten with lead pipes. Every muscle burned with a dull, throbbing ache.
"Helen? Baby, can you hear me?"
I opened my eyes. Jacob was sitting in a chair beside the bed, his hair disheveled, his eyes red and swollen from crying. He reached out to grab my hand, but the instant his skin touched mine, the memory of the cold balcony slammed back into my mind.
I pulled my hand away with every ounce of strength I had left.
"Don't touch me," I rasped, my voice barely a thread.
"Helen, thank God you're awake!" Jacob stammered, leaning forward. "The doctors said you almost died out there! You were hypothermic! Why did you stay out on the balcony in the cold?!"
I stared at him, incredulous, tears of rage burning behind my dry eyelids. "Why did I stay out there? Jacob, your sister locked me out!"
Jacob flinched. He looked around the room nervously before leaning in closer. "Helen, look... Brenda was scared. She said it was a misunderstanding. She said you stepped outside to get sotas, and the wind blew the door shut. She thought you walked around to the front!"
"She locked the deadbolt!" I screamed, coughing as my raw throat protested. "I looked right through the glass! I begged her! I pounded until my hands went numb! She told me a little suffering would teach me not to be so weak!"
Jacob’s face paled, but he immediately shook his head, retreating into his lifelong habit of making excuses for his family. "Helen, come on... Brenda can be spiteful, but she wouldn't try to hurt you. She probably thought you were exaggerating. She didn't realize how cold it was—"
"It was eighteen degrees outside, Jacob!" I yelled, my heart monitor beginning to beep rapidly. "I was out there for nearly an hour! I was losing my babies!"
"Babies?" Jacob blinked, confused. "What do you mean 'babies'? It's just one baby."
Before I could answer, the door to the ICU room pushed open. Dr. Chen stepped inside, holding a thick medical folder, accompanied by two uniformed police officers from the city department.
"Mr. Swift, I need you to step back from the bed," Dr. Chen said in a stern, authoritative voice.
Jacob stood up, looking at the police officers with sudden anxiety. "Officers? What's going on? This was just an domestic accident."
"It was no accident, Mr. Swift," Dr. Chen replied, opening the folder and looking directly at me. "Mrs. Swift, I am Dr. Chen, the chief attending physician. I'm glad to see you conscious. I have some critical medical news to share with you, and given the nature of your injuries, I was legally required to involve law enforcement."
I swallowed hard, holding my breath. "Are my babies okay?"
Jacob looked between me and the doctor. "Why does everyone keep saying 'babies'? We had our twenty-week scan! It’s one boy!"
"Your twenty-week scan was incorrect or misread, Mr. Swift," Dr. Chen stated flatly. "Your wife is carrying dichorionic twins. The second twin was tucked behind the primary placenta and missed during early routine scans. Both babies survived the hypothermia thanks to emergency intervention, but they are in extreme distress."
Jacob stumbled back, his jaw practically hitting the floor. "Twins? Two... two babies?"
"That isn't the most horrifying part," Dr. Chen continued, her tone dropping into a icy, serious register. "When we brought Mrs. Swift in, we ran a comprehensive toxicology panel to understand why she had experienced such severe premature contractions before the cold exposure even took full effect."
The lead police officer, Detective Alvarez, pulled out a notepad. "Doctor, go ahead."
"Mrs. Swift’s blood results showed dangerously high concentrations of Pitocin-like synthetic compounds and concentrated Black Cohosh—a herbal extract known to induce labor and cause uterine hemorrhaging," Dr. Chen revealed. "These chemicals were not prescribed. They have been systematically introduced into her system over the last three to four weeks."
My blood ran cold. My mind raced back through the last month.
Every morning at nine o'clock, while Jacob was at work, Brenda would stop by our apartment. She would bring me a warm mug of custom "pregnancy wellness tea" that she claimed her holistic doctor had recommended for my swollen feet. She insisted on watching me drink it, smiling sweetened smiles, telling me how important it was for me to stay hydrated.
"The tea..." I whispered, my voice trembling violently. "Brenda made me tea every single day."
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Detective Alvarez looked at me sharp-eyed. "Who is Brenda, ma'am?"
"My sister-in-law," I said, tears flowing down my cheeks. "She's been feeding me herbal teas for a month. And last night, she locked me on the balcony to die."
