The next night, Sophie went back to the vending machine
corridor. She watched from the shadows. The elevator across
from Dr. Sheldon’s office hummed, then stopped. Dr. Sheldon
wheeled a crib off the elevator and into his office. Sophie snuck
down the hall and stood around the corner next to his office.
The door swung open, and a young guy—practically a kid,
Sophie thought—came out. He didn’t see Sophie as he headed
toward the vending machines. When he came back and opened
the door to go back in, Sophie caught a glimpse of the inside of
the office.
This was no rinky-dink office. It was a huge laboratory space.
In the back, there were two people in white lab coats. They were
talking in hushed voices. Bright overhead lights reflected off
the stainless-steel countertops that held metal instruments. The
counters ran the length of the lab. Among the disorganized lab
equipment and notebooks, she saw microscopes, a pile of surgical
towels, gauze pads in sterile packages, specimen cups with differ
ent colored labels, and racks of test tubes.
Sophie’s head snapped back when the door closed in her face.
What is going on? Unseen, she made her way back to the NICU.
Over breakfast, Sophie told Adam and Kate about seeing Dr.
Sheldon and his office. She had no idea what Sheldon was
doing, but she intended to find out. She was going back.
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JULIE HATCH
Kate said, “Sophie, are you sure? It sounds kind of spooky.
Experiments happening in the middle of the night?”
“I know, but I need to see what he’s doing.”
Just after midnight, Sophie waited in the vending machine
hallway. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and was
wearing the sweats that she slept in. She looked like any other
NICU mom, unable to sleep, who wanted a midnight snack.
Waiting, she scrolled through her phone. She heard footsteps.
She put her phone away and stood perfectly still, waiting and
listening. They were coming closer. She barely breathed. Then
the footsteps turned and moved away. Sophie exhaled, and for
the next half hour, all was quiet. After an hour, with still no sign
of Dr. Sheldon, she went back to her pod.
Sophie didn’t get it. She knew what she had seen the night
before. Was the stress of the past few days getting to her? Maybe
she was imagining things. She could barely keep track of what
day it was. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. Don’t be
ridiculous, she told herself. You know what you saw.
Sophie returned to the hallway the following night and the
next night, and the one after that. Waiting for Dr. Sheldon
to appear, she patiently stood in the corridor shadows, only to be
disappointed when there was no sign of life at Sheldon’s office
door. She started to doubt that she’d ever seen anything.
Each morning, she met up with Kate and reported what had
happened the night before—nothing.
“Soph, what’s your plan anyway? Are you waiting for a mid
night invitation? Have you even thought this out?”
In truth, she’d only partly thought it out. She had seen the
kid in the white jacket use his hospital ID to get in, probably with
a fob on the back of it. Her NICU parent ID wouldn’t work on
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THE VERY BEST OF CARE
this door, but maybe Danny’s night nurse’s ID would. Most of the
NICU nurses wore their hospital IDs clipped to their scrubs jack
ets. For much of the night, Danny’s night nurse left her jacket
hanging over the back of a chair.
She began to formulate a plan
