Chapter 6 - The Red Badge.
Detective Ortiz returned forty minutes later with two uniformed officers and a question nobody could answer.
There was no admission record for Paul Denning at any hospital in the county.
His apartment was empty.
His car was gone.
His municipal laptop had been left on his kitchen table with the hard drive removed.
"Someone wants him to look guilty," Nina said.
Ortiz folded her arms.
"Or he is guilty."
Mara stared at the rain running down the window.
"Paul was scared last week."
Cal turned toward her.
"You never mentioned that."
"I thought he was worried about an audit."
She remembered a conversation beside the office copier.
Paul had looked over both shoulders before speaking.
"He told me some records were safer forgotten."
Ortiz asked, "Exact words?"
Mara nodded.
"He said, 'Some files cost more than they're worth.'"
Cal looked at Nina.
"That sounds like a warning."
"It could also sound like a threat," Ortiz replied.
A young nurse named Sophie Lane appeared at the doorway.
She had been working the night shift when Mara arrived.
Her hands trembled around a paper cup.
"I think I saw the man with the red badge."
Hale was nowhere in sight.
Ortiz invited Sophie inside and closed the door.
"Tell me what you remember."
Sophie sat beside the wall.
"He came up from the service elevator around midnight."
"He wasn't wearing scrubs."
"Dark suit, red badge, silver glasses."
Mara looked at her.
"That's him."
Sophie nodded.
"He asked which room you were in before anyone had announced your name over the system."
The room went still.
Ortiz said, "How would he know?"
"I don't know."
Sophie swallowed.
"Then Mr. Hale told me to take my break."
Nina's eyes sharpened.
"At midnight?"
"I said the floor was too busy."
"He told me it wasn't a request."
Cal's jaw tightened.
Sophie continued.
"When I came back, your chart had a new note saying you declined to make a statement."
Mara pushed herself slightly higher against the pillows.
"I never declined."
"I know."
Sophie looked ashamed.
"I should have said something sooner."
Ortiz asked whether any camera covered the service elevator.
Sophie nodded.
"There is one inside the elevator."
Nina immediately opened her laptop.
The main hospital security archive showed the same missing hour.
Then Sophie mentioned something the administrator had apparently forgotten.
The elevator company kept its own diagnostic feed for maintenance disputes.
Nina made one call.
Twenty minutes later, a technician sent a compressed video file.
The image quality was poor, but the timestamp was clear.
12:06 a.m.
A man stepped into the elevator wearing a dark suit, silver glasses, and a red temporary badge.
He carried a black leather portfolio.
Mara leaned toward the screen.
"That's him."
Ortiz froze the frame.
Nina enlarged his face.
Cal recognized him before either woman spoke.
He had seen that face in old legal filings from the Mercer case.
"Graham Vale."
Ortiz looked at him.
"Who is he?"
Cal felt six years of anger return in one cold wave.
"He was the attorney who negotiated my brother's final settlement."
Nina searched the name.
The current employer appeared on screen.
Rourke Holdings.
Mara whispered, "So the man who erased my statement works for Dylan's father."
Cal stared at the frozen image.
"Not just works for him."
Nina opened the corporate page.
Graham Vale was listed as executive vice president and general counsel.
Ortiz stood.
"Now I can get a warrant moving."
Before she reached the door, Sophie's phone buzzed.
She looked down.
Her face drained of color.
"What is it?" Mara asked.
Sophie turned the screen toward them.
An email from hospital administration had arrived less than a minute earlier.
Effective immediately, Sophie Lane was suspended for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information.
Cal looked toward the hallway.
"Hale is still protecting them."
Nina shook her head.
"No."
May you like
She closed the laptop.
"He's protecting himself."
