Chapter 6 - The Empty Hospital Bed
For four seconds, I couldn’t understand what Eleanor had said.
My brain heard the words.
It simply refused to accept them.
“Gone where?”
“I don’t know.”
That was when I saw the IV line hanging beside the bed.
Disconnected.
Blanket pulled back.
Window closed.
Bathroom empty.
Detective Brooks moved instantly.
“Lock down the floor.”
An officer radioed security.
Elevators were stopped.
Exterior doors monitored.
Cameras pulled up.
I stood in the center of the room staring at the empty bed.
My daughter had broken ribs.
A concussion.
She wasn’t walking out casually.
Someone had moved her.
Eleanor grabbed my arm.
“She was sleeping ten minutes ago.”
“Who came in?”
“A nurse.”
“Which nurse?”
“I don’t know. Dark hair. Blue scrubs.”
Brooks turned.
“Name tag?”
“I didn’t look.”
Of course she hadn’t.
In a hospital, uniforms create automatic trust.
That’s why they’re useful disguises.
Security found the footage.
We gathered around a monitor.
At 7:42 a.m., a woman in blue scrubs entered Evelyn’s room pushing a wheelchair.
Seven minutes later, she exited.
Evelyn sat in the chair.
Baseball cap pulled low.
Hospital blanket across her shoulders.
The woman pushed her toward a service elevator.
“Zoom in,” Brooks said.
Security enlarged the image.
The woman looked ordinary.
Mid-thirties.
Brown hair.
Surgical mask.
Glasses.
Then I saw Evelyn’s hand.
Resting beside the wheelchair.
Two fingers extended.
Index and middle.
Bent slightly.
Again.
Again.
Again.
“What is that?” Brooks asked.
I leaned closer.
“Signal.”
“What signal?”
“One I taught her when she was a kid.”
Eleanor looked at me.
“You taught our daughter hand signals?”
“For emergencies.”
“You never taught me.”
“You would’ve laughed.”
“I’m considering it now.”
Brooks interrupted.
“What does it mean?”
“Follow.”
He replayed the video.
Evelyn wasn’t unconscious.
She was communicating.
“Check every camera along that path.”
The woman took Evelyn through a basement corridor.
Then loading dock.
At 7:51, they entered a white medical transport van.
License plate partially obscured.
But not completely.
State investigators had the registration within minutes.
The van belonged to a private medical transportation company.
One of Victor Raines’s subsidiaries.
The room went silent.
Brooks called for an alert.
Then Eleanor’s phone rang.
Evelyn.
She answered on speaker.
“Baby?”
Static.
Then our daughter whispered.
“Mom?”
Eleanor nearly collapsed.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No. Listen.”
Her breathing sounded fast.
“The woman said Dustin sent her.”
I exchanged a look with Brooks.
“Where is she now?” I asked.
“Driving.”
“Can you see outside?”
“Highway.”
“Signs?”
Pause.
“Route 9.”
Brooks immediately signaled an officer.
State police were notified.
“Evelyn,” I said, “don’t do anything risky.”
She almost laughed.
“You’re telling me that?”
Fair.
“Can the driver hear you?”
“No. She stopped for gas.”
That explained the call.
“Did she threaten you?”
“No.”
Something was off.
“Then why did you go with her?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“She showed me a picture.”
“What picture?”
“Dustin.”
“With what?”
“His face was bruised.”
I frowned.
I hadn’t touched him.
“She said Victor’s people were going to kill him.”
Eleanor stared at me.
“Why would you care?”
“I don’t.”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“But she said Dustin wanted to turn himself in.”
Nobody spoke.
That was unexpected.
“He said he has evidence,” Evelyn continued.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Evelyn, you should never have left.”
“I know.”
“You should have called us.”
“I know.”
Behind her, a door slammed.
“Someone’s coming.”
“Hide the phone.”
“Dad—”
“We’re finding you.”
The line disconnected.
Brooks looked at the location trace.
“Tower ping puts them north of Route 9.”
“There are three exits.”
“State police are closing them.”
Ten minutes later, we got a hit.
The van had turned onto an access road leading toward an abandoned agricultural property.
We drove there behind two unmarked state vehicles.
My instincts screamed the entire way.
Too easy.
Why take a tracked van?
Why allow Evelyn access to a phone?
Why use a company tied directly to Victor?
Brooks had the same thought.
“This may be bait.”
“Obviously.”
“You stay in the car.”
“No.”
“Mr. Carter.”
“My daughter is inside.”
“And I have trained officers.”
“So do you want me wandering around, or beside you where you can see me?”
He cursed quietly.
“Stay behind me.”
The farmhouse sat half a mile from the road.
Old barn.
Collapsed fencing.
One vehicle parked outside.
The medical van.
Officers approached.
Front door unlocked.
Inside, no one.
Then we heard Evelyn.
“Dad!”
Barn.
I ran.
Brooks shouted after me.
I didn’t stop.
I entered through the side door.
Evelyn sat in a chair.
Not restrained.
Beside her stood the woman from the hospital.
Hands raised.
And Dustin.
His left eye was swollen.
His lip split.
He looked terrified.
Evelyn stood carefully.
“I’m okay.”
I moved to her immediately.
Dustin stayed back.
Brooks entered with officers.
“Hands where I can see them!”
Dustin raised both.
“I’m turning myself in.”
I stared at him.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
For once, he sounded humble.
“I wouldn’t believe me either.”
Brooks cuffed him.
The woman identified herself as Lena Moore.
Victor’s former accountant.
She had disguised herself as a nurse.
Brooks was furious.
“You kidnapped a hospitalized assault victim.”
Evelyn interrupted.
“She didn’t force me.”
“You were medically vulnerable.”
“I know.”
Lena looked toward Dustin.
“We didn’t have time.”
Brooks said, “Start talking.”
Dustin looked at me.
“My uncle is coming.”
“We know.”
“No.”
His voice shook.
“You don’t understand.”
He looked at Evelyn.
Then at the police.
“He’s not coming to protect me.”
That got everyone’s attention.
Dustin swallowed.
“He knows I copied his records.”
Caleb had been right.
“He knows about the locker.”
Brooks stared.
“How?”
“Because the locker is empty.”
“What?”
“I checked this morning.”
My stomach tightened.
Somebody had beaten us to it.
Dustin looked at Brooks.
“One of your cops took everything.”
And then he said the name.
Detective Brooks went completely still.
Because the corrupt officer Dustin identified wasn’t some stranger.
May you like
It was Brooks’s own partner.
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