Chapter 5 - Someone Changed the Chart
Marlo wanted to leave Las Vegas that night.
Cassian would not allow it.
“You're on their list.”
“That's exactly why I want to leave.”
“They'll expect that.”
“I clean sheets, Cassian. I don't participate in mafia medical conspiracies.”
“You do now.”
“I didn't apply.”
For the first time, Cassian smiled.
It vanished quickly.
Nico moved Marlo to a secured penthouse room.
She refused three guards.
Nico assigned four.
Meanwhile, Pell compared Cassian's digital chart with printed records.
At 2:13 a.m., he called.
Someone had changed Cassian's medication authorization.
The approval carried Pell's electronic signature.
He had not signed it.
The access came from inside the hospital network.
Marlo joined Cassian in the surveillance room.
“Who had access?”
“Doctors, nurses, pharmacy staff.”
“And whoever erased Dr. Vale.”
Cassian looked at her.
“You learn quickly.”
“I've been underestimated professionally for eleven years. It gives me time to listen.”
They reviewed footage.
Every morning Elise delivered tea.
Every morning a nurse delivered medication.
Nothing unusual.
Then Marlo noticed the housekeeping cart.
“Stop.”
Nico froze the image.
A laundry cart stood outside Cassian's suite.
Marlo leaned closer.
“That isn't ours.”
“How do you know?”
“Wrong wheels.”
Cassian looked amused.
She ignored him.
“Black Lantern carts have gray locking casters. Those are black.”
Nico advanced frame by frame.
A person wearing a housekeeping uniform pushed the false cart toward Cassian's room.
Face hidden.
At exactly 7:11, the camera went dark for forty-three seconds.
When it returned, the cart was gone.
“Who disabled it?” Cassian asked.
Nico checked the access log.
His expression changed.
“Security administrator.”
“Name?”
“Victor Sloane.”
Cassian stood.
Victor was his head of security.
His trusted employee of nine years.
Nico called him.
No answer.
They went to Victor's office.
Empty.
His computer remained running.
On the desk sat a cup of herbal tea.
Untouched.
Marlo looked underneath the saucer.
No initials.
But there was a number scratched into the porcelain.
Cassian opened Victor's computer.
A single email waited on screen.
YOU HAVE FAILED. CLEAN THE ROOM.
Attached was a photograph taken less than ten minutes earlier.
It showed Marlo asleep in the secured penthouse.
She stared at it.
“That room had four guards.”
Nico immediately radioed them.
No response.
They ran.
The penthouse door stood open.
All four guards were unconscious but alive.
On Marlo's pillow sat an envelope.
Her name was written across it.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph of her mother.
Recent.
Older.
Alive.
On the back someone had written:
May you like
ASK CASSIAN WHERE HE BURIED THE WRONG WOMAN.
Marlo slowly turned toward him.
