Sophie and Adam went to Dr. Sheldon’s office the next morn
ing. They knocked. There was no answer. They knocked again.
Suddenly the door flew open.
Though surprised to see the two of them at his door, Dr. Shel
don quickly recovered. He invited them in and asked how he
could help.
“We have a question about your study that Danny’s in.”
“Sure, what’s on your mind?”
Sophie looked around. Nothing from the other night was
there. No signs of a lab or of any experiments going on. It looked
like any ordinary office with books and papers and a few items
scattered on countertops.
Adam asked, “We’re just wondering how Danny is doing.
Like is he helping? Are you getting the results from him that you
want?”
Dr. Sheldon cocked his head, confused. “It’s too soon to say.
Why do you ask?”
“Oh, right, of course it’s too soon,” Adam said. “We were just
wondering.”
Sophie took a business card from Sheldon’s desk and slid it
into her pocket. She glanced at Adam. She had seen enough to
know this was just a regular office and they wouldn’t find any
thing that would answer their questions about what she had seen
the other night.
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“Thanks, Dr. Sheldon. Sorry to bother you,” Sophie said, and
they left.
Later in the afternoon, Sophie casually asked Rihanna if she
knew anything about Dr. Sheldon’s research work.
“I thought I saw him with a baby in a crib going into his office
in the middle of the night. Do you have any idea what he might
be up to?”
Rihanna did not.
“Really? You have a child with a man who is chief of this
unit, and you have no idea what he’s doing in the middle of the
night?” Sophie pressed. “Are you sure?”
Annoyed, Rihanna answered, “Sheldon made it clear from
the beginning that our life together, and now with Isabelle, is
separate from his work life. Very separate. Even though Isabelle is
a patient in the NICU, we don’t talk about his work. And I don’t
ask. He was probably working on his research. You know the con
sent form that you and Adam signed, giving him permission to
use Danny as a guinea pig for his BrainHealth study?”
“Didn’t you sign Isabelle up to be part of his study?”
“No way. I love the man, but no way is anybody going to
experiment on my daughter.”
“Huh,” Sophie muttered. Guinea pig? Is that what I agreed to
for my son? For someone to experiment on him? “But he said Danny
would be given caffeine anyway, whether or not we agreed to the
study. Sounded pretty straightforward to me.”
Rihanna shrugged. “Probably you’re right. It’s just not for me.”
That night, after the eleven o’clock change of shift, Sophie
returned to the hallway equipped with an ID with a fob. When
Danny’s nurse was busy, Sophie had unclipped the ID and slipped
it into her pocket. Sophie wouldn’t be long, and she knew the
nurses’ routines by now. Danny’s nurse wouldn’t need her jacket
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JULIE HATCH
or ID until three, when she’d go on break and leave the unit. She
would be busy for the next few hours—doing hourly assessments,
checking labs, adjusting ventilators, and suctioning breathing
tubes. The NICU nurse’s job was never done, not until the next
shift showed up to take over.
Sophie’s patience paid off. From the vending machines, she
heard the elevator door open. She watched Dr. Sheldon wheel
a crib into his office, letting the door swing shut behind him.
Sophie slipped down the hallway and paused outside the door.
When she thought enough time had gone by, she quietly swiped
the fob to unlock the door. Her sweaty hand slid off the door
handle. She swiped again and gripped the handle tighter, turning
it slowly. The latch clicked open. She held her breath. She half
expected Dr. Sheldon to be right there, in her face, asking her
what the hell she thought she was doing.
But when she poked her head around the door, Dr. Sheldon
was on the far side of the lab with the two other white coats.
Sophie tiptoed in and gently closed the door. She held the han
dle down, hoping that when she let go, the click wouldn’t be
heard across the lab. She hid behind a portable curtain about
twenty feet from the baby and the white coats. Her heart raced,
and she hoped she couldn’t be seen. The flimsy curtain did the
job of hiding her—all except her slippered feet.
Dr. Sheldon and his assistants were deep in conversation
when they suddenly burst into laughter. Startled, Sophie nearly
knocked the curtain over. She heard the clattering of metal
instruments. She risked a quick peek around the curtain, holding
tight to its edge to make sure the wheels didn’t move and give her
away. She watched as one of the white coats dipped a pacifier in
a bottle of 5 percent dextrose, sugar water, then picked the baby
up out of the crib. The baby, a robust full-term infant, happily
sucked on his pacifier. The white coat placed the baby on a mini
operating table, where he pulled the large operating room–style
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light over to shine directly on the baby’s diaper. Dr. Sheldon
came over and pulled down the diaper to expose him—his little
penis popped out, and his testicles hung down. One of the assis
tants gently held the baby’s arms still while another held his legs.
Both took turns holding the pacifier in his mouth.
Sophie watched and tried to make sense of what she was
seeing. She held her hand tightly over her mouth to keep from
uttering a sound. The baby whimpered and was immediately qui
eted by one of the assistants securing the pacifier tighter in his
mouth. Sophie’s cell phone chirped. She muted it, closed her
eyes, and prayed nobody had heard it.
Dr. Sheldon and the assistant next to him stopped what they
were doing and turned around. Sophie stood perfectly still.
After a few moments, they turned their attention back to the
baby.
When she looked around the curtain for a better view, Sophie
felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around, her heart in her
throat
