Page 25 of Corrupted By Sin

Sylvie couldn’t help but smile at the chaotic yet sweet existence the Perisots lived on a daily basis. Josh didn’t seem to have a filter on the family drama, and she could only imagine how the mother-in-law fit into the scheme of things.

The woman sounded like quite the handful herself.

“You have a lovely home,” Sylvie said, genuinely meaning the statement. Josh might not realize it through his haze of exhaustion, but he would look back on these days with fondness at some point. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time. Millie mentioned that you were the one who took over Dr. Kolsby’s care on the day in question.”

“I was,” Josh replied as he walked over to the kitchen counter. He took the two pieces of toast that had popped up out of the toaster and all but tossed them onto a plastic plate. He opened a drawer and pulled out a butterknife. “Millie was pretty upset. She said she waited for me to come on duty so that she could go and speak with the floor manager.”

Max began cry at being trapped in the highchair. Sylvie instinctively leaned down and made a face. She was glad that Brook and Theo weren’t here to witness her silliness. She’d never hear the end of it. While Max didn’t laugh, he’d at least stopped crying as he studied her appearance.

“Did Millie tell you what she overhead Dr. Kolsby saying that day?”

“Just that she thought he was confessing to some murder. We all thought she was making too big a deal out of it, but she insisted that it was some type of confession.” Josh began to put what appeared to be grape jelly on the toast. He was concentrating so hard that he’d tucked his tongue inside the corner of his lips. “Anyway, Millie wasn’t in rotation on the ICU floor the next day that I went into work.”

Sylvie hadn’t realized that Millie’s transfer had taken place at such a rapid speed. The timing of her removal from the ICU floor could be significant, and it warranted further investigation.

Sylvie had definitely captured Max’s interest now. He was trying to reach for the hair sticks that she’d used in her bun this morning. They were the same exact gold color of her sweater, and she hadn’t been able to resist buying them last week.

“Was Dr. Kolsby alert when you went in that night? Do you think that he may have requested that Millie be moved to another floor?” Sylvie asked as she pulled away from Max just in the nick of time. She’d thought that he’d wanted to grab the hair sticks, but what he’d really wanted was her black-rimmed glasses. “And did you hear him say anything similar?”

“Of course Millie’s transfer out of ICU had everything to do with accusing Dr. Kolsby of being a killer.” Josh had begun to cut the toast into miniature squares. “Beth is friends with the Kolsbys, so it makes sense. Millie didn’t think things through when she escalated the situation.”

“Beth?”

“Our floor supervisor.”

Sylvie waited for Josh to answer her other question about also hearing Dr. Kolsby say something odd, but he was too busy washing his hands after setting the butterknife in the sink. Max’s attention had been drawn to the sound, and it wasn’t long afterward that his gaze landed on his breakfast.

He began to struggle once again, hoping to escape his confines.

“And was Dr. Kolsby alert when you began your shift?”

Josh waited to reply until he’d finished drying his hands on a dishtowel.

“I don’t feel comfortable talking about one of my patients without their knowledge or consent.” Josh picked up Max’s plate and brought it over to the highchair. He set the jelly toast on the tray, not so distracted anymore. “Look, Millie made her bed, if you get my drift. Dr. Kolsby is on the board of our hospital. How did she think it was going to pan out?”

Sylvie stood slowly, her knees protesting a bit after how long she’d been kneeling on the floor.

Josh was no longer the distracted father.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Sylvie countered, grateful that she hadn’t taken off her dress coat or gloves. She had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be welcome in the house for too much longer. “Did you overhear Dr. Kolsby say anything that could corroborate Millie’s claims?”

“No.” Josh had broken his stare before replying so that he could focus on his son. He was lying, but there wasn’t a damn thing that she could do about it. “You mentioned that Millie’s apartment was broken into. Is she alright?”

Sylvie mulled over her choices, but none of them resulted in Josh confessing that he’d heard Dr. Kolsby confess to murder. She could see why he would assume the break-in had something to do with Millie coming forward, and Sylvie regretted revealing such knowledge. Unfortunately, that lone fact was the reason that she’d garnered access to Josh in the first place.

Max hummed with each bite that he shoved into his mouth. Josh ran a hand over his son’s brown curls. He had a son to protect, and it was evident that he wouldn’t jeopardize his family’s safety. She couldn’t blame him, but such an assumption that someone would threaten another over what had transpired gave more credence to Millie’s assertions.

“Millie is fine,” Sylvie finally responded. “As a matter of fact, she went into work yesterday.”

Sylvie gave Max one last smile as she turned away, fully aware that she wouldn’t obtain any more answers from Josh. Unless she changed directions and didn’t ask him anything. There was more than one way to build a fire.

“I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me.” Sylvie made sure to step around the toy dump truck after searching her path through the array of blocks. “Millie spoke highly of you. She misses the ICU.”

Sylvie waited until she was by the front door to turn around and face Josh. He was rubbing his forehead as he lagged behind, her words obviously having an impact.

“I’ll be seeing her later today,” Sylvie said, not quite sure there was any truth to her statement. There was always the possibility that she could see their client, though. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. “I’ll be sure to tell her that you said hello.”

Sylvie gave a small wave to Max, who was too caught up in his food to even notice the gesture. To be so young and focused on what brought him joy was a sight to behold. Children understood the importance of living in the moment.

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