Chapter 14: Nine O'Clock

Alexis's POV

The caseworker was a woman in her forties with sensible shoes and a county tablet in a canvas bag.

She got out of the white sedan, looked at the silver car behind her, and waited on the walk.

Ward's mother came up the path with her chin high.

"I am the child's grandmother," she said. "I made the report. I will sit in."

"Ma'am, I'm here to see the mother and the baby," the caseworker said. "Is that the mother?"

"I'm Alexis Wexler," I said from the step.

"Then you're who I'm here for. Your mother-in-law can wait on the porch."

"I most certainly will not."

"Then you can wait in your car," the caseworker said, "and I'll note that you declined."

Ward's mother sat down on Hattie's porch swing.

She sat on the very edge of it, and the chain creaked under her.

I took the caseworker into the kitchen with Stella on my shoulder.

Emmett came in behind us and stood by the door, and the caseworker raised her eyebrows at him.

"He's the owner of the nursing agency I hired," I said. "I want him here. He has files."

"Fine. Sit."

She asked the plain questions first.

How many hours had I slept, and where, and who held the baby while I did.

I had a color-coded sleep log on my phone, and I handed it across.

Blue was Stella, green was me, and red was every night someone else had kept me from her.

The caseworker scrolled for a long time.

"Who made the red entries?"

"My husband's mother, mostly. Then the night nurse, on her instructions."

"Your pediatrician's chart has a screening on file."

"A two, on Tuesday. The pediatrician flagged the letter beside it."

She nodded and turned a page on her tablet.

"This is the letter that opened the case. From your family doctor." She read the top line aloud. "It's dated Sunday, nine in the morning."