Chapter 3 - The Dead Man’s Password
Nathan found seventeen unauthorized logins.
All used Thomas Brooks’s credentials.
All occurred after midnight.
All accessed records connected to Rachel Brooks.
Ethan asked the obvious question.
“Can Victor access Dad’s credentials?”
“He shouldn’t.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Nathan sighed.
“Possibly.”
The investigation began quietly.
Meanwhile Ethan remained Eli.
Victor expected Ethan Brooks to be somewhere overseas nursing another romantic disappointment.
The disguise gave Ethan something more useful than the love experiment ever had.
Invisibility.
Executives spoke freely around janitors.
Board members ignored maintenance workers.
People revealed themselves when they believed the person beside them did not matter.
Two nights later, Ethan was cleaning outside a private conference room when Victor entered with St. Mary’s chief financial officer, Charles Denton.
Ethan kept mopping.
Victor barely glanced at him.
Inside the room, voices lowered.
Ethan moved closer.
“417 needs to be handled,” Victor said.
Denton answered:
“She’s seventy-eight.”
“That makes her old, not harmless.”
Ethan’s grip tightened.
“What does she remember?”
“Enough.”
“And the records?”
“Destroyed.”
Victor paused.
“You said that twenty years ago.”
Ethan stopped moving.
Denton replied:
“I did what I was told.”
Victor’s voice became colder.
“And yet Rachel’s son is asking questions.”
Ethan nearly reacted.
How did Victor know?
Then Denton said:
“Brooks isn’t even in Chicago.”
“He doesn’t need to be.”
Victor lowered his voice.
“Find Evelyn’s copy before the board vote.”
The men exited.
Ethan immediately bent over his bucket.
Victor passed.
Denton stopped.
Looked at Ethan.
“You.”
Ethan raised his head.
“Yes, sir?”
“Have you been cleaning here all night?”
“Mostly bathrooms.”
Denton grimaced.
“Wonderful.”
He left.
Ethan waited.
Then entered the conference room.
Nothing.
Except beneath one chair lay a torn corner of paper.
He picked it up.
A handwritten number.
417-1998-B.
Evelyn recognized it immediately.
“Archive code.”
“For what?”
“Your mother’s emergency admission.”
Ethan frowned.
“You said her records disappeared.”
“Her medical file did.”
Evelyn pointed at the number.
“That isn’t medical.”
“What is it?”
“Security.”
Ethan’s pulse jumped.
Hospitals stored security footage for limited periods.
Certainly not twenty years.
Unless the material had been preserved as part of an incident.
Evelyn whispered:
“Your mother demanded hospital security record her statement.”
Ethan stared.
“She made a video?”
Evelyn nodded.
“I watched her make it.”
“Where is it?”
“I thought Victor destroyed it.”
“Thought?”
Evelyn squeezed his hand.
“Rachel was smarter than Victor.”
Then she looked at Sophia.
“Ask the nurse.”
Sophia froze.
“Me?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Not you.”
She pointed toward Sophia’s ID badge.
“Your surname.”
REED.
Sophia frowned.
“What does my name have to do with Rachel Brooks?”
Evelyn looked almost frightened to answer.
“Everything.”
Then the cardiac monitor alarm suddenly screamed.
Evelyn’s body jerked.
Sophia rushed forward.
“Evelyn!”
Ethan stepped back.
Nurses flooded the room.
And through the chaos, Ethan saw someone disappearing around the hallway corner.
May you like
Charles Denton.
Holding an empty syringe.
