Chapter 5 - THE ROOM BENEATH ST. CATHERINE'S
The first real breakthrough came from an architectural drawing.
Paige had remembered Colin mentioning a basement.
Gabriel's investigator located the original construction plans for St. Catherine's.
The plans showed three underground levels.
The public records showed two.
A discrepancy.
Not proof.
But enough to investigate.
Gabriel spread the plans across the library table.
Paige leaned over them.
“What's this?”
“A service corridor.”
“It doesn't connect to anything.”
“On the original plan, it does.”
He placed another sheet beside it.
Paige compared the drawings.
The corridor led to a sealed room beneath the former rehabilitation wing.
“What was stored there?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“We don't know.”
Paige traced the line with her finger.
“Colin once said his father kept things underground because nobody asks questions about concrete.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“When?”
“At a Christmas party. He thought he was being clever.”
They took the information to Vivian and an independent forensic accountant.
The accountant identified a property company that had acquired the St. Catherine's site after the fire.
Its ownership led through several entities.
Eventually, one name emerged.
Richard Vale.
Colin's father.
That evening, Gabriel received an anonymous message.
STOP DIGGING OR THE GIRL DIES.
Attached was a photograph of Paige entering Vivian's office.
Gabriel's face hardened.
He showed her the message.
She stared at it.
“Is this supposed to scare me?”
“Yes.”
“It does.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
Paige looked up sharply.
Gabriel continued.
“Fear is information. It tells us the threat is real.”
She studied him.
“What are you going to do?”
“Strengthen security. Give the evidence to investigators. Find out who took the photograph.”
“And what am I supposed to do?”
“Whatever you choose.”
Paige looked at the message again.
Then said, “I choose not to disappear.”
Two days later, a court-authorized search of the abandoned St. Catherine's property uncovered the sealed underground room.
Inside were damaged file cabinets, old computer equipment, and boxes of patient records.
Some documents had been burned.
Others had been soaked.
But enough survived to reveal a pattern.
Patients listed as deceased had continued generating financial activity for years.
Their identities had been used in fraudulent transactions.
And several of those transactions connected directly to Richard Vale's companies.
Gabriel received the news while standing beside Mara's photograph.
He closed his eyes.
“Twelve years,” he whispered.
Paige stood nearby.
He turned toward her.
“We found it.”
She nodded.
Then gently asked:
“Will it bring her back?”
Gabriel looked at the photograph.
“No.”
May you like
Paige stepped closer.
“Then make sure it helps someone who's still here.”
