“No.”
Mike waited.
Karen unfolded the receipt and flattened it against the Buick’s window.
“She said I should wait here until she came down.”
“Did she tell you why?”
Karen looked at the parking receipt.
“No.”
Mike wrote the time in his notes.
Karen looked at him.
“Is Elena all right?”
“She has Leo.”
Karen closed her eyes for a second.
“Then I need to see her.”
“You can tell me first what your
mother said.”
Karen nodded.
“She said Elena would understand once the papers were explained.”
“What papers?”
“I do not know.”
Mike waited again.
Karen looked toward the hospital entrance.
“She never said she was going to take the baby.”
Mike’s pen stopped.
“Did you agree to anything?”
“No.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
“Did you expect to leave with Leo?”
Karen shook her head.
“No, I never agreed to take Elena’s baby.”
Karen kept the receipt pinched between two fingers while the officer wrote something on his pad. She looked at the paper as if it had become evidence of a promise she had never made.
