Cradle of Lies

The Interview

Detective Chen pressed the doorbell at apartment 4B and heard the chime echo inside. Beside her, Mills shifted his weight, his hand resting casually near his badge.

“Remember, she’s nine months pregnant,” Chen said quietly. “We keep this friendly. We’re just gathering information from everyone who was on shift Friday.”

“Got it.”

The door opened, and a woman appeared—light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, tired eyes, and very, very pregnant. She had one hand braced against the doorframe, the other pressed to her lower back.

“Dorothy Bishop?” Chen showed her badge. “I’m Detective Chen, this is Detective Mills. We’re investigating an incident at St. Catherine’s Friday night. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

Dorothy’s face paled slightly. “The missing baby. I saw it on the news. That’s horrible.”

“Yes, it is. May we come in?”

“Oh. Sure.” Dorothy stepped back, moving carefully. She was wearing yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt that stretched over her belly. “Sorry, the place is a mess. I’ve been trying to get things ready before—” She gestured vaguely at her stomach.

The apartment was small but neat. A nursery was visible through an open doorway—pale yellow walls, a white crib, a rocking chair. Everything looked ready and waiting.

“When are you due?” Chen asked, settling onto the couch.

“Any day now. Officially Wednesday, but the doctor said first babies are usually late.” Dorothy lowered herself into a chair with visible effort. “Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee?”

“We’re fine, thank you.” Chen pulled out her notebook. “We understand you were working Friday afternoon when Maya Martinez was admitted?”

“Maya Martinez—is that the mother? The one whose baby was taken?”

“Yes. Do you remember her?”

Dorothy nodded slowly. “Yeah. Young girl, came in around three. She was alone and really scared. I did her intake, got her settled in a room.”

“What was your impression of her?”

“Scared. Really scared.” Dorothy’s hand moved unconsciously to her own belly. “She kept saying she didn’t know if she could do it. That she wasn’t ready. I tried to reassure her, told her lots of women feel that way but it gets better once the baby’s here.”

“Did she seem like she wanted the baby?”

Dorothy hesitated. “I mean, she was scared, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t want her. Labor is terrifying, especially when you’re that young and alone. People say all kinds of things they don’t mean.”

Mills leaned forward slightly. “Did you stay with her through labor?”

“No, my shift ended at six. She was only dilated to four centimeters when I left. I handed her off to Rachel and Keisha for the night shift.”

“And you went straight home?”

“Yeah. My boyfriend was supposed to pick me up, but he’d already left for his fishing trip that morning, so I drove myself. Stopped for gas on the way home, then went straight to the apartment.”

“Fishing trip?” Chen looked up from her notes.

“Yeah, he goes with his brother every few months. They left Friday morning, won’t be back until tomorrow.” Dorothy shifted in her chair, wincing. “Terrible timing, I know. Being this pregnant and alone for the weekend. But the baby’s not due until Wednesday, so we thought it would be fine.”

“So you were alone all weekend?”

“Yeah. Just me.” Dorothy gave a small, tired smile. “I’ve been watching a lot of Netflix and eating ice cream. Not the most exciting weekend, but at this point I’m too uncomfortable to do much else.”

Chen made notes. “Can you think of anything unusual about Friday? Anyone who seemed out of place on the ward?”

Dorothy thought for a moment. “Not really. It was a pretty normal day. We had one other delivery earlier, but that was routine. Maya was our only patient in active labor when I left.”

“Did anyone else show particular interest in her case? Other staff, visitors?”

“Not that I noticed. But like I said, I left at six. Whatever happened was hours after that.”

“What time did you get home Friday?”

“Around 6:45, maybe? It’s about a twenty-minute drive, plus the gas station stop.”

Mills glanced around the apartment. “Nice place. You’ve got the nursery all set up.”

“Yeah, we’ve been working on it for months. Jake—my boyfriend—is really excited. He’s probably going to be upset he missed this conversation. He’s very protective right now.” Dorothy smiled slightly. “Especially with me being alone this weekend.”

“When does he get back?” Chen asked.

“Tomorrow afternoon. I’m counting down the hours, honestly. It’s lonely being here by myself, especially with everything on the news about that poor baby.”

“Have you been following the story?”

“A little. It’s hard not to. But I try not to watch too much—it’s too upsetting.” Dorothy’s hand moved to her belly protectively. “I can’t imagine what that mother is going through. Waking up and your baby is just… gone.”

“You said Maya was scared during labor,” Chen said. “Did she say anything specific? Anything that struck you as concerning?”

“Just the normal stuff. ‘I can’t do this,’ ‘I’m not ready,’ that kind of thing. Honestly, most first-time mothers say something similar. It doesn’t mean anything.” Dorothy paused. “You don’t think she did something to her own baby, do you?”

“We’re exploring all possibilities.”

“She seemed like she wanted to keep her. She’d chosen a name—Andrea, I think. She asked if the baby was healthy, if everything looked okay. Those aren’t the questions of someone who doesn’t care.” Dorothy shifted again, grimacing. “Sorry, sitting this long gets uncomfortable.”

“We won’t keep you much longer,” Chen said. “Is there anything else you can think of? Anything at all that seemed off?”

Dorothy shook her head. “I wish I could help more. But honestly, it was just a normal shift. I left, went home, and didn’t hear about what happened until I saw it on the news Saturday morning.”

Chen stood. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Bishop. If you think of anything else, please give us a call.” She handed Dorothy a card.

“I will. And I really hope you find Andrea. That little girl deserves to be with her mother.”

Mills helped Dorothy to her feet—she clearly needed the assistance. She walked them to the door slowly, one hand on her lower back.

“Good luck with everything,” Chen said, gesturing to Dorothy’s belly. “Hope it goes smoothly.”

“Thank you. Me too.”

They stepped into the hallway, and Dorothy closed the door behind them. Chen and Mills walked toward the elevator in silence.

“Well, she’s definitely pregnant,” Mills said once they were out of earshot.

“Very. I felt bad making her get up and down.”

“And she was home alone all Friday night with no alibi, but—” Mills shrugged. “I don’t see how a woman that pregnant could pull off an abduction. She could barely walk to the door.”

“Agreed. Plus she seemed genuinely concerned about Maya and the baby. Didn’t try to throw suspicion on the mother like some people do.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. They stepped inside.

“So we’re back to square one,” Mills said. “Mystery woman who knew the hospital layout but doesn’t match any current employees.”

“Let’s focus on former employees and people who might have observed the ward enough to learn the patterns. Someone planned this carefully.”

“What about the boyfriend? Jake, she said. He was gone all weekend on a fishing trip.”

“Good timing,” Chen noted. “But she said he left Friday morning. And she seems pretty convincingly pregnant, so unless he’s coming back to a newborn, I don’t think there’s a connection.”

“Still worth talking to him when he gets back. Verify the timeline.”

“Agreed. But Dorothy Bishop doesn’t seem like our suspect.”

As the elevator descended, Chen flipped through her notes. Another dead end. Another nurse who’d been at the hospital but left before the abduction. They were running out of leads.

Inside apartment 4B, Dorothy stood with her back pressed against the door, her heart pounding in her ears. She listened to the detectives’ voices fade down the hallway, heard the distant ding of the elevator.

She waited. Counted to thirty. Made sure they were really gone.

Then, from the bedroom, a soft cry started.