Chapter 5 - THE NURSE WHO TRIED TO CONFESS
Evelyn Cross survived.
Barely.
She had been found with a severe head injury.
Doctors believed she had been attacked.
She remained unconscious for two days.
Mallerie spent those days waiting.
She couldn't eat.
Couldn't sleep.
Couldn't stop looking at the photograph.
Gideon arranged for additional security around Owen.
Teresa stayed with the baby.
Rebecca worked with investigators.
Adrian reviewed every connection between Northbridge Medical Consulting, New Horizons Family Services, and St. Catherine's Hospital.
The pattern was disturbing.
Three companies.
Several overlapping directors.
Large transfers of money.
Missing records.
And a physician who had disappeared.
On the third morning, Evelyn woke.
She asked for water.
Then a lawyer.
Then Mallerie Reed.
Mallerie entered the hospital room with Rebecca beside her.
Evelyn was in her early forties.
Her face was bruised.
Her voice was barely audible.
When she saw Mallerie, she began crying.
“I'm sorry.”
Mallerie stopped.
“For what?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I was there.”
Mallerie's heart pounded.
“At my delivery?”
Evelyn nodded.
She explained that Dr. Kessler had ordered the baby removed from the nursery.
The infant was healthy.
There had been no fatal complication.
Mallerie had experienced severe bleeding and required emergency treatment, but the child had survived.
Evelyn had questioned the order.
Kessler told her the mother had agreed to a private placement.
He showed her documents.
She believed him.
At first.
Then she saw Mallerie crying in the recovery room.
Begging to hold her dead baby.
Evelyn realized something was terribly wrong.
She tried to report it.
Her supervisor threatened her license.
Then someone offered her money to remain silent.
She refused.
Two days later, she was transferred.
A week later, she resigned.
Mallerie stared at her.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Evelyn sobbed.
“I was afraid.”
Mallerie's voice shook.
“I spent ten months thinking my son was dead.”
“I know.”
“No,” Mallerie whispered. “You don't.”
Rebecca gently intervened.
“Evelyn, can you identify who ordered the transfer?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Dr. Kessler.”
“Anyone else?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Then looked toward the door.
“A woman.”
Mallerie's stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“She came to the nursery with him. She had access to the hospital. Everyone treated her like she owned the place.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Her name?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Vivian Vale.”
Gideon's sister.
When Rebecca told Gideon, he did not speak for nearly a minute.
Then he sat down.
His face had gone gray.
“My sister?”
Rebecca nodded.
“That's what the witness says.”
Gideon stared at the floor.
Vivian had helped arrange Owen's arrival.
She had introduced him to New Horizons.
She had handled the paperwork.
She had stood beside him when he first held the baby.
And now a nurse was claiming she'd been present when Mallerie's newborn was taken.
Gideon looked at Rebecca.
“Find Vivian.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And Gideon?”
He looked up.
“Do not contact her yourself.”
His expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Because if she's involved, we need her to make mistakes before she knows what we have.”
Gideon looked toward the nursery.
Owen was asleep.
Small.
Innocent.
Unaware that the woman he'd called Aunt Vivian might have helped steal him.
Gideon closed his eyes.
May you like
And whispered:
“What have I done?”
