CHAPTER 4 — THE HOSPITAL FOOTAGE
Before Vanessa could swing, the nursery door burst open.
Detective Grant entered with two officers.
“Drop it!”
The poker slipped from Vanessa’s hands.
Preston stood in the hallway behind them.
He stared at her.
“You were going to attack my wife?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You told me to recover the recorder.”
“I told you to talk to her.”
“You said the baby could ruin everything.”
Preston’s face changed.
Detective Grant ordered both of them taken away.
Emily was rushed to St. Catherine’s Medical Center.
Her blood pressure was dangerously high.
The baby was stable, but the doctor warned that continued stress could trigger early labor.
Rosa stayed beside her.
Daniel and Lydia waited outside the room.
Emily trusted neither of them.
At three in the morning, Detective Grant entered carrying a file.
“We recovered part of the security footage from the night your father died.”
Emily sat up.
The first image showed Charles sitting in a wheelchair.
A woman in medical scrubs pushed him through a service hallway.
Her face was covered by a mask.
But a silver bird charm hung from her bracelet.
Emily recognized it.
Vanessa wore the same bracelet.
“That’s her.”
Grant placed down another photograph.
Twenty minutes later, Preston entered the hospital parking garage.
“He told me he was in Chicago,” Emily said.
“His phone was in Chicago. He was not.”
Emily looked at the last image.
Her father’s wheelchair entered a restricted service elevator.
“What floor did it go to?”
“The hospital claims the elevator was under maintenance.”
“Then where was he taken?”
“We don’t know.”
Grant handed her the death certificate.
The time of death was listed as 12:18 a.m.
But the footage showed Charles leaving his room thirty-six minutes earlier.
“Who signed this?” Emily asked.
“Dr. Samuel Ward.”
Emily knew the name.
Dr. Ward sat on Ashford Development’s medical advisory board.
“Where is he?”
“Missing.”
Lydia entered without knocking.
“We need to move Emily.”
Grant turned.
“Why?”
“Someone just tried to enter this floor using Charles Bennett’s old credentials.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
“My father is dead.”
Lydia held out her phone.
A live security image showed a man standing at the end of the hospital hallway.
His face was hidden beneath a dark cap.
In his hand was a polished wooden cane.
Emily knew that cane.
Her father carried it for fifteen years.
The man lifted his head.
For one second, she saw the scar beneath his chin.
“Dad?”
Grant ran into the corridor.
The elevator doors were already closing.
The man disappeared inside.
Emily’s phone vibrated.
May you like
An unknown number had sent her a message.
Your father discovered the truth about the child you are carrying.
