Chapter 7 - The File Anna Was Never Supposed to See
Mommy did not technically go alone.
She also did not know that at first.
Damian agreed to Samantha’s condition after a forty-minute argument.
“No visible security,” Mommy said.
“Fine.”
“No one inside the church.”
“Fine.”
“No following me through the door.”
“Fine.”
“You’re agreeing too easily.”
“I’m learning.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m adapting.”
“Damian.”
He sighed.
“I will be nearby.”
“How nearby?”
“Define nearby.”
“Not helpful.”
Eventually Mommy accepted that Damian Cross would never send her into an uncertain situation without some kind of protection.
He accepted that she would leave if he tried to control her.
It was their first successful negotiation.
Not their last.
The church was small and old.
Brick walls.
White steeple.
A quiet street lined with trees.
Mommy entered at eleven fifty-eight.
Samantha Reed waited in the third pew.
She looked younger than Mommy expected.
Thirty, maybe.
Dark circles under her eyes.
Hair cut short.
A coat that seemed too big for her.
She stood immediately.
“Anna?”
“Yes.”
Samantha hugged her.
Mommy stiffened in surprise.
Then hugged her back.
“I’m sorry,” Samantha whispered.
“For what?”
“Everything.”
They sat.
For a moment neither woman spoke.
Then Samantha looked toward the church doors.
“Is Cross here?”
“Nearby.”
Samantha gave a humorless laugh.
“Of course.”
“He won’t come inside.”
“You trust him?”
Mommy thought about it.
“With his daughter.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
Samantha studied her.
“But you’re beginning to.”
Mommy did not answer.
Samantha reached into her bag.
She removed a thick envelope.
“This is why Evelyn died.”
Mommy stared at it.
“What is it?”
“The original audit.”
“Northstar’s?”
“St. Catherine’s.”
Mommy opened it.
Inside were printed spreadsheets.
Medication inventory.
Patient records.
Vendor invoices.
Numbers circled in red.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
Samantha moved closer.
“For almost four years, Northstar shipments arrived at St. Catherine with drugs that were never supposed to stay there.”
“What kind?”
“Mostly controlled pain medications and specialty medications with high resale value.”
“And they disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“The receiving department logged the full shipment. Then part of it was diverted before pharmacy inventory.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who changed the records?”
“Dr. Hale had administrative access. So did two IT employees. So did Evelyn, but she wasn’t involved.”
“Caleb?”
“Not directly. He managed cleanup.”
Mommy’s stomach tightened.
“Cleanup?”
“People who asked questions.”
“Like Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“Like you.”
Samantha looked away.
“And me?”
Samantha met her eyes.
“You were never supposed to notice.”
Mommy opened the envelope again.
“Why use patient records?”
“To reconcile inventory. If twenty units disappear, records show twenty units administered.”
“To real patients.”
“Yes.”
“Children?”
Samantha’s eyes filled.
“Sometimes.”
Mommy went very still.
“They weren’t actually given those doses?”
“Usually not.”
“Usually?”
Samantha swallowed.
“There were mistakes.”
“What kind of mistakes?”
“When fake orders were entered, sometimes nurses saw them before they were removed.”
“Oh God.”
“Most questioned them.”
“And if somebody didn’t?”
Samantha looked down.
Mommy understood.
“Did that happen to Lily?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Mommy closed her eyes in relief.
“No?”
“No. I checked everything. Lily did not receive the falsified dose.”
“Then why did she collapse?”
Samantha’s face changed.
“That’s the part I didn’t understand.”
“Until?”
“Until I found another file.”
She handed Mommy a single sheet.
A laboratory request.
Lily Cross.
The sample had been ordered the morning before Lily’s collapse.
A toxicology screen.
Cancelled.
Mommy frowned.
“Why would this be ordered?”
“Because someone suspected exposure.”
“To what?”
“A cardiac stimulant.”
Mommy stared.
“No.”
“The test was cancelled before processing.”
“By whom?”
“Dr. Hale.”
The church seemed to become colder.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could Lily have been poisoned?”
“I can’t prove that.”
“Who ordered the test?”
Samantha pointed.
A physician code.
Dr. Nora Whitcomb.
Mommy knew her.
“She was a pediatric fellow.”
“She left St. Catherine a week later.”
“Where is she?”
“No idea.”
Mommy looked through the documents.
“What does this have to do with Damian’s shareholder meeting?”
Samantha’s voice dropped.
“Northstar knew he planned to force an audit.”
“And making Lily sick distracted him.”
“I think so.”
“You think someone deliberately made a child sick to delay a corporate vote?”
Samantha looked haunted.
“I think people who steal millions from hospitals stop thinking like normal people.”
Mommy’s eyes burned.
“Why was Lily targeted?”
“Because Damian Cross would leave anything for her.”
That was true.
Everyone who knew him knew it.
Samantha continued.
“And because they thought the illness would look natural.”
“Who did it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Caleb?”
“I saw him in the hospital.”
“Hale?”
“He had access.”
“Marcus Vale?”
Samantha froze.
Mommy noticed.
“You know that name.”
Samantha’s hands tightened.
“Where did you hear it?”
“Damian.”
Samantha stood abruptly.
“I have to go.”
Mommy caught her wrist.
“No.”
“Anna.”
“Sit down.”
“I shouldn’t have come.”
“You brought me here.”
“I made a mistake.”
“Why are you afraid of Marcus?”
Samantha looked toward the doors.
“He isn’t part of the hospital scheme.”
“What?”
“He financed it.”
Mommy released her.
“What do you mean?”
“Northstar was losing money. Vale offered capital through shell companies.”
“Why?”
“In exchange for distribution.”
“Distribution of stolen medication?”
Samantha nodded.
Mommy felt sick.
“So this wasn’t only fraud.”
“No.”
“What was it?”
“A supply network.”
“Who else was involved?”
“I don’t know.”
“Samantha.”
“I swear.”
She grabbed her bag.
“Evelyn had the full list.”
“On the drive?”
“Maybe.”
“Why encrypt it?”
“To keep Hale from opening it if he found it.”
“Do you know the password?”
“No.”
Mommy looked frustrated.
“Then how does any of this help?”
Samantha stared at her.
“Because Evelyn told me who did.”
“Who?”
“You.”
Mommy blinked.
“What?”
“She said Anna would know.”
“I don’t.”
“She said you already had the password.”
“That makes no sense.”
Samantha reached into her coat.
She handed Mommy a photograph.
It showed the nurses’ station at St. Catherine.
Mommy and Evelyn were visible.
Behind them was a whiteboard covered in handwritten notes.
Someone had circled one line.
A phrase Mommy recognized.
She had written it herself during Lily’s hospitalization.
LILY’S BRAVE DAYS: 11
Mommy stared.
Samantha said, “Evelyn told me you’d understand when you saw it.”
Mommy’s breathing slowed.
Eleven brave days.
It was a phrase Mommy used with Lily.
Every morning Lily stayed in the hospital, Mommy wrote a number on the whiteboard.
Day one.
Day two.
Day three.
Lily hated the word “hospital days.”
So Mommy called them brave days.
On her eleventh day, Lily left intensive care.
Mommy whispered, “Eleven.”
Samantha nodded.
“Try it.”
Damian’s team had the encrypted drive.
Mommy pulled out her phone.
She called him.
He answered instantly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is Samantha there?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Try the password BraveDays11.”
Silence.
Then typing.
A few seconds later, Damian inhaled sharply.
“It opened.”
Mommy closed her eyes.
“What’s inside?”
“Give me a second.”
More silence.
Then Damian’s voice changed completely.
“Anna.”
“What?”
“There are names.”
“How many?”
“Dozens.”
“Hospital staff?”
“Hospital administrators. Northstar executives. Shipping contractors.”
“Marcus?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Mommy looked at Samantha.
Damian continued.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“A folder with my name.”
Mommy gripped the phone.
“What’s in it?”
Damian stopped speaking.
“Damian?”
When he answered, his voice was almost unrecognizable.
“A payment record.”
“To whom?”
He swallowed.
“To someone on my own staff.”
Mommy’s heart dropped.
“How long?”
“Five years.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Marco’s voice came through faintly in the background.
Damian said, “Wait.”
Mommy heard movement.
A door.
Then Damian returned.
“Anna, leave the church.”
“What happened?”
“Now.”
“Damian—”
“Someone on the drive accessed our security network this morning.”
Mommy looked at Samantha.
“Who?”
Damian’s answer came through the phone.
“Someone inside my house.”
May you like
And hundreds of miles away, Lily and I were still there.
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