Chapter 5 - THE SECRET BENEATH WARD SEVEN
Dr. Adrian Voss did not raise his voice.
That made him more frightening.
"Give me your phone, Norah."
She remained near the desk.
"Why?"
"Because you've accessed information that could be misunderstood."
"Dead patients receiving treatment isn't a misunderstanding."
"Your medical education doesn't qualify you to interpret research finance."
"My medical education qualifies me to recognize when someone falsifies consent."
Voss approached.
Norah quietly pressed the emergency call button on her phone.
Nothing happened.
No signal.
Voss noticed.
"This department uses a communications shield."
Norah glanced at the door.
He followed her gaze.
"Please don't make this difficult."
She lifted her chin.
"Why was Thomas Mercer declared dead?"
For the first time, Voss looked genuinely surprised.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"He came into the emergency department today."
Silence.
Then Voss took a step backward.
"That's impossible."
"Apparently, your paperwork is unreliable."
He removed his phone.
Norah knew she had seconds.
She grabbed a metal instrument tray and hurled it toward the wall.
The crash echoed down the corridor.
Voss lunged.
She ducked beneath his arm, reached the door, and discovered that the lock required a security card.
He seized her wrist.
"Stop!"
Norah twisted free, but his fingernails scraped her skin.
He caught her shoulder.
Then the door opened.
Victor stood outside with two uniformed security officers.
"Is there a problem, Doctor?"
Voss released her.
Norah stepped behind Victor.
"Yes. He locked me inside."
Victor's expression became glacial.
"Did he?"
"She accessed restricted information," Voss said quickly.
"Then you should have called hospital security."
"I am hospital security's supervisor."
Victor looked at the officers.
"Not anymore."
---
Dominic was waiting in a conference room downstairs.
He saw the marks on her wrist.
His face changed.
"Who touched you?"
"Dominic—"
"Who?"
"Voss. But I'm fine."
He took a breath.
Then another.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Good."
His voice was controlled, but Norah could see the effort it required.
She placed Liam's note on the table.
"Project Harborlight. Your hospital is running something on the seventh floor."
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
"I was afraid of that."
"You knew?"
"I knew there were irregularities in research accounts. I didn't know the extent."
"Then why didn't you stop it?"
"Because if I moved without evidence, the people responsible would destroy everything."
Norah stared at him.
"You let it continue?"
"I froze the accounts I could identify. Then someone moved the operation into companies I didn't control."
"Who?"
"That's what Liam was investigating."
Norah went still.
"How did my brother get involved?"
Dominic pulled out a chair.
"Sit down."
"No."
He accepted the refusal.
"Six months ago, your brother worked as a contract systems analyst for a Russo subsidiary. He discovered transfers between hospital research accounts and a shipping company connected to Alexi Tarasov."
"Liam told me he was designing inventory software."
"He was."
"Then why did he steal financial records?"
"He didn't."
The answer stunned her.
Dominic continued.
"He copied evidence after discovering that somebody was using hospital records to create fraudulent insurance and research claims. The $400,000 debt was manufactured to make him appear to be a thief."
Norah felt sick.
"Who manufactured it?"
"We haven't established that."
She looked toward the hospital corridor.
"Voss."
"Possibly."
"Then arrest him."
"On what admissible evidence?"
Norah hated that he was right.
Dominic reached into his jacket.
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Evelyn Price standing beside a federal office building.
"Her real name is Evelyn Mercer."
Norah frowned.
"Mercer?"
"Thomas Mercer's daughter."
"She's investigating what happened to him?"
"Yes. She used a false identity to gain access to the hospital."
"Is she federal law enforcement?"
"No. She's a forensic accountant whose father was enrolled in the research program."
Norah examined the photograph.
"Where is she?"
"Missing."
The word seemed to hang between them.
Another missing person.
Another link to Liam.
Dominic stood.
"I need you to stop investigating alone."
"And I need you to stop treating me like the problem."
He walked toward the window.
For a moment, she thought he would explode.
Instead, he said quietly, "When I was nineteen, I watched my father send an innocent man to prison because the man discovered something he shouldn't have."
Norah waited.
"I told myself that when I took control, things would be different."
"Are they?"
He turned.
"Not different enough."
It was the first honest answer she had received from him.
---
That night, Norah found Teresa in the estate kitchen.
The older woman was preparing soup.
"Did Dominic send you to watch me?" Norah asked.
Teresa raised an eyebrow.
"If Dominic could control what I do, that would be a historical first."
Norah laughed despite herself.
They sat together at the kitchen table.
For a while, they spoke about ordinary things.
Recipes.
Old books.
The Chicago winters.
Then Norah asked about Dominic's mother.
Teresa stopped stirring.
"She died when he was seventeen."
"How?"
"The official report said an automobile accident."
"And the unofficial version?"
Teresa looked toward the doorway.
"His father was investigating a hospital charity. Elena Russo discovered that its money wasn't going where the donors believed."
Norah felt her pulse quicken.
"What charity?"
Teresa hesitated.
"The Harborlight Foundation."
A chill moved through the kitchen.
Norah reached for her notebook.
"Teresa, was Dominic's mother murdered?"
The older woman said nothing.
Then she opened a cupboard and retrieved a small envelope.
"I've kept this for eighteen years."
Inside was a photograph of Elena Russo standing beside three men at a charity event.
Norah recognized Adrian Voss.
The second man was Alexi Tarasov.
The third was unfamiliar.
A handwritten message appeared on the back.
If anything happens to me, do not trust the man who signs the checks.
Norah examined the photograph.
Then she turned it over again.
The third man wore a silver signet ring.
May you like
The same ring she had noticed on Victor's hand.
---
