Chapter 7 - What Kora Had Been Hiding Beneath the White DressDr. Brenner did not take them to Room 614.
He took them to the hospital roof.
“No cameras here,” he said.
Gino checked anyway.
Kora stood across from the doctor who had destroyed her career.
“You framed me.”
Brenner didn’t deny it.
“Dominico ordered it.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother had started asking questions.”
“So you ruined my life?”
“I kept you alive.”
Kora laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You expect gratitude?”
“No.”
Brenner’s voice cracked.
“I expect you to hate me.”
He told them everything.
Elena Bell had discovered that medical supply shipments were being used to conceal payments between Vale-controlled companies and corrupt officials.
Room 614 had belonged to a patient under a false name.
That patient had been an accountant for Dominico.
Before dying, he gave Elena a ledger.
She photographed every page.
“Where is it?”
Kora asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Your mother.”
“She’s dead.”
Brenner lowered his eyes.
“She knew she was in danger.”
Kora’s throat tightened.
“What happened to the photographs?”
“I think she gave them to someone.”
“Who?”
Brenner looked at Gino.
“Victor Rivas.”
Mateo’s uncle.
Again.
Gino called Mateo.
The moment he heard Victor’s name, Mateo became silent.
Then he said, “Come back.”
When Kora arrived at Mercer Street Clinic, Mateo was standing.
Barely.
She stared.
“You’re supposed to be in bed.”
“I was bored.”
“You have stitches.”
“I noticed.”
“Sit down.”
He did.
Immediately.
Kora blinked.
Gino smiled.
“I’ve worked for him eleven years. Nobody has ever achieved that.”
Mateo ignored him.
“What did Brenner say?”
Kora told him.
Mateo listened.
Then he asked Gino to open the safe.
Inside were old documents belonging to Victor.
They searched for an hour.
Nothing.
Then Kora noticed a medical book.
Trauma Surgery, fourth edition.
It seemed out of place.
She pulled it from the shelf.
Something fell from inside.
A key.
Mateo stared at it.
Attached was a small tag.
ST. JUDE — 17.
Kora’s heart began pounding.
“The chapel.”
Mateo nodded.
“My uncle hid something at Saint Jude.”
Gino said, “The building is a crime scene.”
Kora picked up the key.
“It’s also half burned.”
Mateo looked at her.
“You’re not going alone.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I’ll sit aggressively.”
She almost laughed.
For the first time since the wedding, the tension between them softened.
Then Mateo noticed something.
A thin line around Kora’s thigh beneath her borrowed pants.
“You still have the pouch?”
“Yes.”
“What else was in it?”
Kora hesitated.
Then she removed a small photograph.
Her mother.
Her father.
And herself at age ten.
Behind them stood Saint Jude’s Chapel.
Mateo turned it over.
There was writing on the back.
He read aloud.
IF ANYTHING EVER HAPPENS TO ME, THE TRUTH IS WHERE KORA FIRST LEARNED NOT TO BE AFRAID.
Mateo looked at her.
“What happened at Saint Jude when you were ten?”
Kora stared at the photograph.
Then memories returned.
A charity medical drive.
Her mother teaching her how to wrap bandages.
A basement room beneath the chapel.
Rows of storage lockers.
And one locker marked with a brass number.
May you like
Kora looked at Mateo.
“I know where your uncle hid the evidence.”
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