Chapter 4 - The Missing Minute.
.The monitor restarted before Lena could touch it.
When the medical record returned, the legal waiver was gone.
Lena went pale.
“That attachment was just there.”
Rebecca took out her black smartphone.
“Did the system log access?”
“Yes.”
“Can someone erase the log?”
Lena hesitated.
“Not easily.”
“Then don’t touch anything else.”
Rebecca photographed the screen with her phone, including the patient ID, time, and the empty attachments pane.
Emma watched her.
“Mom, I had a picture of the waiver on my phone.”
“The phone Julian took?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked toward the door.
“Did you back it up?”
Emma’s expression changed.
“I think so.”
She explained that her phone automatically synchronized photographs to a cloud account.
The password had recently been changed after she noticed unknown login attempts.
Only one other person knew the new password.
Rebecca.
Rebecca opened a browser on her phone.
She entered Emma’s account credentials.
A verification request appeared.
The code was being sent to Emma’s missing phone.
Victoria had anticipated more than Rebecca wanted to admit.
Lena checked the hallway.
“I can ask IT to preserve the server logs.”
“Ask verbally and document who you speak to,” Rebecca said.
“Do not email from this workstation.”
Lena nodded and left.
Emma stared at Rebecca’s medals.
“When did you become so suspicious?”
Rebecca almost smiled.
“About twenty-six years before you were born.”
Emma’s mouth moved faintly.
It was the first hint of normalcy Rebecca had seen.
Then Emma’s expression collapsed again.
“There’s something else.”
Rebecca waited.
“The recording might still exist even without my phone.”
“How?”
“My watch.”
Rebecca looked at Emma’s bare wrist.
“They took that too.”
“Not before it synced.”
Emma had used a voice memo app connected to the same cloud account.
If the recording had completed before the devices were seized, a copy might be stored remotely.
Rebecca tried the browser portal.
Again, the system demanded two-factor verification.
Then she noticed a second recovery method.
A trusted laptop.
“Where is your laptop?”
Emma closed her eyes.
“In Julian’s office.”
Rebecca’s jaw tightened.
The federal liaison called directly.
Rebecca answered.
“Captain Hale.”
A male voice responded.
“Special Agent Daniel Ross, Federal Protective Liaison.”
Rebecca knew the office.
It handled threats and coordination when military personnel or federal interests intersected with local investigations.
She summarized the forged hold, suspected medication, missing phone, and vanished document.
Ross did not interrupt.
When she finished, he asked one question.
“Did your daughter ever access federal contracting information through Mercer’s company?”
Rebecca looked at Emma.
“Did you?”
Emma shook her head.
Then stopped.
“Maybe.”
Rebecca’s pulse changed.
Emma explained that some invoices carried abbreviations she assumed referred to state grants.
One code began with NAVMED.
Rebecca knew immediately what it meant.
Naval medical support.
Ross heard the silence.
“Captain?”
“There may be Navy-linked funds involved.”
The agent’s tone sharpened.
“Do not confront anyone about that.”
Too late.
The door opened.
Victoria Mercer stood outside with the hospital’s chief administrator and two attorneys.
Her smile was back.
“Captain Hale,” she said, “we need to discuss your daughter’s unauthorized access to confidential financial records.”
May you like
Rebecca rose slowly.
Victoria had just admitted the records existed.
