OLIVER
There is no ambulance outside Saint Gabriel Hospital.
No police vehicle waits at the emergency entrance. No trauma team is preparing to receive my mother.
“Aurora Adams,” I tell the receptionist. “She was brought in after a collision twenty minutes ago.”
The woman searches the system twice. “We haven’t admitted anyone by that name.”
Ucker turns toward me. “Call her again.”
My mother answers on the second ring.
“Did Anny like the blankets?” Aurora asks.
I grip the phone. “Where are you?”
“At home. Luis is here. What happened?”
The corridor seems to narrow around me.
Before we left the house, Aurora and Luis did not answer. Highway dispatch confirmed the collision, and Saint Gabriel confirmed that an ambulance was bringing her under the private name she uses for security.
