Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the Hospital Door
Charles Whitaker walked into the basement with an oxygen tube beneath his nose.
For a dying man, he still commanded the hallway.
He wore a charcoal overcoat over an immaculate suit. His silver hair was neatly combed. A black cane touched the floor with each measured step.
Daniel stared at him.
"You took Lily."
Charles looked disappointed.
"Of course I didn't."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not."
Rebecca stepped from behind Daniel.
Charles stopped.
For the first time, the old man's control cracked.
"My God."
Rebecca's voice was ice.
"Hello, Dad."
Charles stared at the daughter he had believed dead.
Or pretended to believe dead.
Emily could not tell which possibility was worse.
"You survived."
"Disappointed?"
Charles's eyes filled with something almost human.
"No."
Rebecca laughed.
"You're still good."
"At what?"
"Making lies sound like love."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Where is Lily?"
Charles looked at him.
"Lawson has her."
"Then call him."
"He stopped taking my calls three hours ago."
Rebecca frowned.
"You expect us to believe that?"
Charles leaned heavily on his cane.
"I don't care what you believe. Henry Lawson has spent twenty-two years cleaning up my mistakes. Apparently he has decided he deserves the company for his trouble."
Daniel stared at him.
"What are you talking about?"
"The evidence Rebecca found doesn't implicate only me."
Charles looked toward Emily.
"It implicates Lawson far more."
Emily thought of the hospital.
The chief medical officer.
The man who signed budgets, hired physicians, chaired safety committees.
"What did he do?"
Charles answered quietly.
"Whatever I paid him to do."
Daniel looked disgusted.
"You're admitting it."
"I'm dying."
Charles shrugged faintly.
"Mortality makes confession less expensive."
Rebecca stepped forward.
"Our mother."
Charles's expression changed.
"Don't."
"Tell Daniel."
"He doesn't need—"
"Tell him."
Daniel looked between them.
Charles closed his eyes.
"Your mother discovered Riverside."
"Did you kill her?"
"No."
"Did Lawson?"
Charles remained silent.
That was enough.
Daniel moved toward him.
Emily caught his arm.
"Daniel."
He stopped.
Barely.
Charles whispered, "I ordered Henry to frighten her. Nothing more. He made his own decision."
"And then you covered it up."
"Yes."
Rebecca's face twisted.
"Why?"
"Because by then I was already guilty."
Charles looked suddenly ancient.
"One crime becomes two very easily when a man is more afraid of losing his empire than losing himself."
Daniel stepped back.
He could not look at his father.
Emily understood.
There were moments when hatred was easier than grief.
"Where is Lily?" she asked.
Charles reached into his coat.
Daniel tensed.
Charles produced a keycard.
"Fourth floor."
"Room 417?"
"Yes."
Rebecca stared.
"Why?"
"Because Lawson enjoys symbolism."
They took the service elevator.
Charles remained behind.
Daniel refused to trust him.
Rebecca refused to leave him alone.
Emily refused to stay away.
Nobody won the argument.
On the fourth floor, the abandoned wing smelled of dust and disinfectant.
Blue doors lined the corridor.
417 waited at the end.
Daniel approached.
A child's voice came from inside.
"Daddy?"
He ran.
The door was locked.
"Lily!"
"Daddy!"
Daniel slammed his shoulder against it.
Emily grabbed his arm.
"Stop. You'll hurt yourself."
Rebecca used Charles's keycard.
Red light.
Denied.
Emily examined the lock.
Old magnetic system.
Emergency release.
She remembered renovation plans from a safety briefing.
"There's a mechanical override at the nurses' station."
Daniel ran back.
Emily crouched beside the door.
"Lily, can you hear me?"
"Yes."
"Are you hurt?"
"My head hurts."
"Is anyone with you?"
"No."
"Can you see the door?"
"Yes."
"Stay away from it, okay?"
"Okay."
Daniel returned with the override key.
The lock clicked.
He opened the door.
Lily ran into his arms.
Daniel dropped to his knees.
"Bug."
She sobbed against him.
He held her as though the entire world had narrowed to one six-year-old body.
Emily examined her quickly.
No new injuries.
Rebecca stood in the doorway.
Lily looked over Daniel's shoulder.
Her eyes widened.
The woman from school.
"Aunt Claire."
Rebecca flinched.
Daniel looked at her.
"You told her your name was Claire?"
"I couldn't tell her who I was."
Lily stared.
Something instinctive seemed to pass across her face.
Rebecca slowly crouched.
"Hi, Lily."
"Do you know my mommy?"
Rebecca's mouth trembled.
Daniel looked away.
Not now.
There would never be a good time.
But this was not the place.
Emily noticed a red light blinking beneath the bed.
"Everyone out."
Daniel turned.
"What?"
"Now."
He grabbed Lily.
They rushed into the corridor.
Seconds later, smoke began pouring from beneath the bed.
Not a bomb.
A fire.
Someone had placed an incendiary device in the room.
The fire alarm screamed.
Sprinklers activated.
Water poured from the ceiling.
"Lawson is destroying the floor," Rebecca shouted.
"The records," Emily realized.
The old archives connected through a dumbwaiter system between floors.
If fire spread downward, decades of paper evidence could disappear.
They ran toward the stairwell.
Smoke thickened.
Emily coughed.
Daniel stopped.
"You're getting out."
"No."
"Emily."
"Daniel, the records—"
"I don't care about the records."
"I do."
He stared at her.
"You and the baby matter more."
The words hit her unexpectedly.
She almost hated him for saying them now.
Eleven months too late.
Yet exactly when she needed to hear them.
Rebecca took Lily.
"Go. I'll get the files."
Daniel grabbed Rebecca.
"I'm not losing you again."
"You won't."
"You don't know that."
Rebecca looked at him.
"No. But this time I'm telling you where I'm going."
She disappeared down the stairs.
Daniel escorted Emily and Lily toward the active wing.
Fire crews arrived.
Security locked down the floor.
For twenty minutes, nobody knew whether Rebecca had escaped.
Then she emerged from another stairwell.
Soaked.
Coughing.
Holding a metal document box.
Daniel nearly crushed her in his arms.
Inside the box was Rebecca's original chart.
Medication orders.
Lawson's signature.
And something else.
A sealed envelope addressed to Daniel.
The handwriting belonged to his mother.
Charles had kept it for twenty-two years.
Daniel opened it.
My dearest Daniel,
If you're reading this, then I failed to get home.
His hands began shaking.
Emily stood beside him.
The letter described Riverside.
The bribed inspectors.
Charles's involvement.
Lawson's threats.
Then the final paragraph.
There is one thing your father never told you. Rebecca knows part of it, but not all. If anything happens to me, find Margaret Cole. She knows who Lily's father really is.
Daniel stopped reading.
Rebecca stared at him.
"What?"
Emily looked toward Lily.
Rebecca's face had gone white.
Daniel slowly raised his eyes.
"You told me Lily's father died before she was born."
Rebecca said nothing.
"Who is he?"
Before she could answer, Daniel's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Charles Whitaker was tied to a chair.
Blood ran from his forehead.
Beneath the photograph were six words.
BRING THE FILE OR HE DIES.
Then another message arrived.
This one contained an address.
May you like
Rebecca recognized it immediately.
"Riverside."
