Francesca sighed softly as she was on the phone, her expression showing worry. Watching from the kitchen, Aspen felt annoyed by her mother’s behavior. The young woman muttered quietly to herself, making sure Francesca couldn’t hear.
“She’d be nice to me, too, if I had money,” Aspen grumbled.
Francesca’s voice caught Aspen’s attention, and she fell silent.
“Oh my, Hannah… I didn’t realize you were working so hard. I think it’s just stress, but you might be pregnant.” Francesca laughed after that. “I’d be so happy if you really were pregnant.”
Aspen rolled her eyes. Disgusting, she thought to herself.
“When are you going to the hospital for a check-up?” There was a brief pause before Francesca spoke again. “Oh, tomorrow? Do you want me to take you? Which hospital?”
Francesca got up and started looking for a notebook and pen. She wrote down the address of the hospital Hannah mentioned.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you? I don’t have anything else to do, don’t worry,” Francesca said. “I’ve noted the hospital’s address in case you change your mind.”
Aspen waited for Francesca to sit back down so she could peek at which hospital Hannah was going to. Francesca returned to the couch.
“Okay, dear. Don’t worry about anything; what you’re going through is normal, okay?”
Francesca hung up the phone and then turned around. The older woman frowned when she saw Aspen reading the notes she had just written.
“What are you doing?” Francesca asked.
“Just wondering why Mom is writing down a hospital address.” Aspen folded her arms. “Just for Hannah? After she gave you all that money, you’ve gone soft on her, Mom?”
“She’s been kind to us, Aspen. I feel ashamed for how I’ve treated her all this time.”
“Oh, if she goes broke again, don’t expect me to welcome you back!”
Aspen stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her. She ignored her daughter’s cries outside the room, which were startled by the loud noise. Once again, the only sound was Francesca trying to calm her granddaughter down.
Frustrated, Aspen threw herself onto the bed. She grabbed her phone and typed a message to Sarah. Aspen detailed the hospital’s address, and the name of the doctor Hannah was seeing. She then sent the message.
Not long after, Sarah called Aspen.
“Hey, are you asking me to go to the hospital?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah.” Aspen scoffed. Didn’t they already agree on this? Was Sarah suffering from amnesia?
“I already told you I can’t possibly convince any doctor to make a false diagnosis.”
“Oh my God, aren’t you creative? Just do what I tell you, and you’ll understand my plan.”
“So, what exactly do you want me to do?” Sarah asked.
*
Hannah arrived at the hospital for her 10 a. m. appointment the next day. She entered the lobby and spoke with the receptionist.
“Before seeing the doctor, we’ll do a few checks, Mrs. Harrison. Just follow the corridor and turn left at the junction. There, you’ll go through the lab tests first,” the receptionist explained.
“Okay, thank you.”
As indicated, Hannah hurried to the room, not paying attention to her surroundings. The hospital was quite busy that late morning.
Hannah didn’t notice that someone was watching her from the patient seating area.
Sarah got up from her seat, maintaining a safe distance so she wouldn’t be noticed by Hannah. When she reached the end of the corridor, Sarah saw Hannah enter the lab waiting room. After waiting a few minutes, she saw Hannah exit the lab and move to another test area.
Sarah turned around and pretended to be on the phone so Hannah wouldn’t notice her as she walked by. Once Hannah was out of sight, Sarah quickly entered the lab.
“May I help you?” the lab attendant asked.
“Oh, yeah. I need to do a test.”
“Blood or urine?”
Sarah swallowed hard. She saw small bottles neatly arranged near the attendant and felt nauseous, knowing they were urine samples.
“Urine, I guess,” Sarah said.
“Do you have a referral letter for your test, ma’am?”
“Well, I was told to come here. I didn’t know I needed to bring a letter or anything.”
The attendant looked suspicious but remained polite.
“Ma’am, you need to register at the front desk first and then bring a referral letter for your test,” the attendant explained.
“Can’t you just do it for me?”
“Excuse me?”
“Look, my name is Sarah Young. And you know my family’s reputation in Summerhill.” Sarah cleared her throat softly. “I’ll do the urine test now, and then I’ll register and get the letter from the receptionist. How about that?”
The lab attendant hesitated but knew about the Young family. If the Youngs were dissatisfied with the hospital’s service, the attendant would bear the consequences.
“Okay, ma’am.”
The attendant handed Sarah an empty bottle and pointed to a door that led to the restroom.
“Please collect your urine sample in the restroom and give me the bottle when you’re done,” the attendant instructed.
Sarah nodded obediently.
Sarah quickly went into the restroom and collected the urine sample. When she came out, the attendant was nowhere to be seen. Sarah hurried over to the rack of urine samples. She wrinkled her nose in disgust but checked each bottle one by one.
She found the bottle with Hannah’s name on it and quickly swapped the sticker, which wasn’t very sticky, with the one on her own bottle.
As Sarah placed Hannah’s bottle back, she heard a throat clearing behind her as if in reprimand.
“Ma’am, what are you doing?” the lab attendant asked.
“Oh, I was just putting my urine bottle here.” Sarah flashed an innocent smile.
“The bottle is to be handed to me, ma’am.”
Sarah didn’t hand over the bottle. Instead, she took a step back and shrugged.
“As a matter of fact, I’m not going to do the test after all,” she said.
The lab attendant looked confused. “But you said you wanted to get tested.”
“Maybe later. I’ve changed my mind.” Sarah quickly headed for the door. “Thanks for your help. See you later.”
Sarah exited the lab and walked over to a trash can, where she disposed of Hannah’s urine sample.
“Well, now there’s just the matter of getting rid of you for good, Hannah,” Sarah muttered with a pleased smile.