Chapter 3 - THE BROWN BOTTLEThe bottle was an over-the-counter liquid sleep aid.
Adult formulation.
Active ingredient: diphenhydramine.
I recognized the name.
Antihistamine.
Sedating.
Common.
Dangerous in the wrong amount.
Especially for a young child.
The paper cup contained a small amount of pale liquid diluted with water.
Police did not test it in the hallway.
They preserved it.
Same with the bottle.
The kitchen timer showed four minutes and twelve seconds remaining when Dana photographed it.
What had it started at?
Mark said twenty.
Why?
“Exposure practice.”
That phrase meant nothing.
Officer Walsh asked:
“Exposure to what?”
“Bathing.”
I stared.
“Sophie takes baths.”
Mark looked at me.
“No. She tolerates baths when you’re here because you let her control everything.”
“What does the medicine have to do with bathing?”
He stopped.
Dana said:
“Mr. Hayes, you do not have to answer questions.”
That mattered.
Police were not there to help me win an argument.
Mark asked for an attorney.
Also his right.
Sophie and I went to the emergency department because poison control and the pediatrician recommended evaluation after possible repeated medication exposure.
Mark did not come with us.
For the first time in Sophie’s life, her father watched her leave in an ambulance without being allowed to follow.
She cried for him.
That confused me.
I wanted her to hate him immediately because hatred would have made my decisions easier.
May you like
Children are inconsiderate that way.
They keep loving people.
