Chapter 4 - THE GREEN BAIZE DOOR
Sophie returned to Ravenswood with a police escort to collect her belongings.
Miriam had insisted.
Alexander had objected to her going at all.
But Sophie needed her clothes, her identification documents, and the nursing textbooks she had carried from Yonkers.
She also wanted to know what was behind the green door.
She did not tell Alexander that part.
Mrs. Fairbanks met her in the entrance hall.
“You are no longer employed here.”
“I assumed.”
“Your wages will be mailed.”
“You paid me in cash.”
Mrs. Fairbanks's mouth tightened.
“Then arrangements will be made.”
The officer accompanying Sophie cleared his throat.
“We're here so Miss Marchetti can retrieve her belongings.”
Mrs. Fairbanks stepped aside.
Sophie packed quickly.
Six weeks of employment had become four days of danger.
She folded her uniforms.
Collected her shoes.
Put her mother's photograph inside her bag.
Then she heard footsteps beyond the wall.
The west wing.
A door opened.
A man's voice spoke.
“Voss says the hospital is running additional tests.”
Another voice answered.
Richard.
“Then we need the records before Mercer hears about them.”
Sophie froze.
Mercer?
Who was Mercer?
The first man spoke again.
“The medication schedule is already gone.”
Richard answered, “Not all of it.”
Sophie looked toward the officer.
He was standing near the bedroom door.
She lowered her voice.
“Did you hear that?”
He nodded.
“Stay here.”
He stepped into the hallway.
The voices stopped.
Moments later, Richard appeared.
He smiled.
“Miss Marchetti. Still causing trouble?”
Sophie said nothing.
The officer asked, “Sir, who is in the west wing?”
Richard looked mildly surprised.
“My private physician is visiting.”
“May we speak with him?”
“Do you have a warrant?”
The officer paused.
“No.”
“Then I suggest you finish your business.”
Sophie left with her belongings.
But as she passed the green baize door, she noticed something.
A thin strip of white tape had been placed along the lower frame.
Someone had written a date on it.
The date was the night Alexander collapsed.
Back at the hospital, she told Miriam.
Miriam listened carefully.
Then made a call.
The next morning, investigators obtained authorization to search portions of Ravenswood.
They found the west wing contained a private medical suite.
A treatment chair.
Locked cabinets.
Monitoring equipment.
And records documenting repeated treatments administered to Alexander.
Some entries were incomplete.
Others had been altered.
But the most disturbing discovery was a storage cabinet containing sealed sample containers labeled with dates.
One date matched the night Alexander collapsed.
Dr. Ortiz examined the information provided by investigators.
“These need proper forensic analysis,” she said.
Sophie looked at Alexander.
He was staring at the photographs.
“That's where they took me,” he whispered.
He touched his wrist.
“The room I couldn't remember.”
Miriam turned another page.
A handwritten note had been photographed beside the treatment chair.
It read:
NEXT REVIEW: SIX WEEKS. TRANSFER MUST BE COMPLETE.
Alexander looked at Sophie.
“You were hired for six weeks.”
She felt her stomach drop.
The length of her employment had never been random.
May you like
Someone had planned a deadline.
And Alexander's life had been part of it.
