Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LOCKED PHARMACY
Saint Catherine's Private Recovery Center stood thirty miles outside Chicago, surrounded by trees and a high iron fence.
Its website showed photographs of comfortable patient rooms, smiling nurses, and a rehabilitation garden.
The brochure promised personalized treatment.
Luxury medical supervision.
Complete confidentiality.
Emma read the website twice.
Then looked at the list of executives.
One name appeared beneath the heading Director of Clinical Operations.
Mara Sloane, RN, MBA.
Emma remembered her as a friendly nurse who always volunteered to cover overnight shifts.
Mara had taught younger staff how to deal with difficult families.
She brought cupcakes on birthdays.
She also had an unusual habit of taking extra shifts in the hospital pharmacy whenever staffing was short.
Emma had never questioned it.
Now she wondered whether she'd overlooked something important.
The police were already investigating the forged transfers.
Emma wasn't authorized to search Saint Catherine's.
And Julian's disappearance meant the situation had become a potential kidnapping investigation.
Dr. Chen insisted she avoid becoming personally involved.
"You've done everything you're supposed to do," he told her.
Emma looked at him.
"My brother might be there."
"I know."
"Then how can I just go home?"
Chen's expression softened.
"You can give the investigators what you know without walking into a dangerous situation yourself."
Emma wanted to argue.
But he was right.
Noah needed her alive.
That afternoon, Emma received a call from a woman identifying herself as Dr. Amelia Frost.
She claimed to be a physician who previously worked at Saint Catherine's.
"I heard you were asking questions about transfers," Amelia said.
Emma's pulse quickened.
"Who told you?"
"Someone who trusts you."
"Then why not speak with the police?"
"I already have. I want to make sure you understand why your brother's name appeared in the records."
Emma sat down.
"Tell me."
Amelia hesitated.
"Not over the phone."
Emma almost agreed to meet her alone.
Then she remembered Dr. Chen's warning.
"I'll come with my attorney and an investigator."
A long pause.
Finally, Amelia answered.
"Good. That's probably safer."
The meeting took place at an attorney's office downtown.
Amelia arrived carrying a sealed envelope.
She looked exhausted.
"My father worked for the company that operated Saint Catherine's before it changed ownership," she began.
Emma leaned forward.
"What company?"
"Aster Medical Logistics."
Her stomach tightened.
Amelia continued.
"At first, Aster provided legitimate transport services. Then executives began charging insurers for transports that never happened."
Emma nodded.
"And Noah discovered it?"
"He was one of the first employees who noticed the vehicle mileage didn't match the invoices."
"What happened when he reported it?"
Amelia looked down.
"He was threatened."
Emma's throat tightened.
"By whom?"
"A man named Conrad Vale."
She had never heard the name.
Amelia opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a corporate board meeting.
Conrad Vale stood beside a woman in a dark blue dress.
Emma stared at the woman.
"Who is she?"
Amelia hesitated.
"Dr. Victoria Vescari."
Emma stopped breathing.
"Vescari?"
"Julian's aunt."
The photograph was dated seven years earlier.
The same year Noah disappeared.
Amelia explained that Victoria held significant investments in a network of private medical facilities.
Some were legitimate.
Others had been associated with repeated billing disputes and unexplained transfers.
Julian's shipping companies had indirectly provided logistics services through contracts his financial managers approved.
Emma felt sick.
"So his family was involved?"
"Some members appear to have been. That doesn't establish Julian's personal knowledge."
Emma looked down.
"Why would someone kidnap Noah?"
Amelia took a breath.
"Because he discovered more than billing fraud."
"What?"
"Patients were being transferred under altered names."
Emma stared.
"Why?"
"We don't know the entire purpose. Some transfers appear to have been used to conceal patients who could testify about other crimes."
Emma closed her eyes.
Noah hadn't simply discovered stolen money.
He had discovered people being hidden.
Then Amelia placed a second photograph on the table.
It showed a young man sitting in a hospital garden.
His hair was longer.
His face thinner.
But Emma recognized him immediately.
Noah.
She covered her mouth.
"When?"
"Six months ago."
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Where?"
"Saint Catherine's."
Amelia looked away.
"He wasn't registered under his real name."
Emma swallowed.
"What name?"
"Daniel Reed."
Emma stared at the photograph.
Her brother was alive.
He had been alive six months ago.
And someone had kept him hidden for seven years.
She pressed the photograph against her chest.
Then whispered, "Please tell me how to bring him home."
Amelia's eyes filled.
"There's something else you need to know."
Emma looked up.
"Your brother wasn't just being held there."
A long silence followed.
May you like
Then Amelia said:
"For the last three years, he's been working inside the facility to help other patients escape."
