When Bernice heard the sirens, she poured what was left in the bottle over her own face.
Blood ran down her cheeks as the flesh bubbled and hissed, and she was still smiling.
"Millie, you only lost a baby. Me? I lost my whole face."
"So tell me—who do you think he'll feel sorry for?"
When I woke again, the hospital room was empty.
I lay there a long time before I finally signed the papers dropping the charges.
She was young, and she was mentally ill. I had no intention of pressing charges. I just never wanted to see her again.
But when I found my way to Bernice's ward, I heard her voice through the door—that syrupy, little-girl whine she saved for him.
"Professor Baxter, I only got hurt because of your wife, you know. So you have to look after me for the rest of my life, okay?"
And my husband didn't even pause.
"Of course I will. As long as you still trust me."
Of course Bernice trusted him. I was the one who didn't—not anymore, not ever again.
Just then, Captain Carter pushed the door open.
"Professor Baxter, no one else has been in or out of your house."
"But the kidnapper's signal traces back to the Baxter residence. Have you considered that Bernice might have staged the whole thing herself?"
At the mention of Bernice, even the most even-tempered old officer at the precinct darkened.
"Suicide threats every other day. Nobody can talk her down except Professor Baxter."
After Bernice moved into our home, it only got worse.
Some nights she'd show up at the master bedroom door clutching her blanket, begging Curt to coax her to sleep.
I'd told Curt she needed to see a doctor.
He cut me off, irritated.
"She's terrified of doctors. What do you want, to drive her to actually do it?"
"When did you lose every shred of compassion?"
I was five months pregnant when the doctor told me something might be wrong with the baby.
I planned to go back for a follow-up that weekend.
But outside the obstetrics ward, I ran straight into Curt—who was supposed to be on a business trip out of town.
He pressed his lips together and stepped back, the look of a man retreating into innocence.
When Bernice came out, he asked—right in front of me—"How's the baby?"
My eyes stung instantly, blurring with tears.
Before I could even open my mouth, Bernice dropped to her knees.
"Millie, I had no idea you were pregnant too…"
"I just didn't want to come to the checkup alone, so I asked the professor to come with me."