Chapter 5 - THE VISITOR WITHOUT A NAME
At 6:17 a.m., a man wearing hospital scrubs entered the pediatric ward through the employee stairwell.
Security footage later showed him walking with a slight limp.
He kept his face turned away from every camera.
Ashley was alone for less than thirty seconds.
The nurse had stepped into the medication room. The officer stationed outside had followed a shouting visitor down the hallway. The distraction was deliberate.
The man entered Ashley’s room carrying a paper cup.
She opened her eyes.
“Are you a doctor?”
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
Familiar.
Ashley recognized it from behind the front door.
She pulled the blanket to her chin.
“You’re the bad man.”
He smiled.
A surgical mask covered most of his face, but his eyes were light gray.
“I knew your mother.”
Ashley pressed the nurse-call button beneath the blanket.
The man noticed.
He took her wrist.
“Don’t.”
“You hurt my daddy.”
“Your father hurts everyone.”
“He’s good.”
“That’s what he wants you to believe.”
The man placed the paper cup on the bedside table.
“He stole you.”
Ashley shook her head.
“No.”
“He lied about your mother. He lied about the fire. He lied about who you are.”
“My daddy doesn’t lie.”
The man leaned closer.
“Then ask him about Emma.”
Ashley froze.
The name meant nothing to her, but something about the way he said it made her afraid.
Footsteps approached outside.
The man released her wrist.
“Tell Andrew that the river was only the beginning.”
He turned toward the door.
Officer Natalie stepped into the room with her weapon drawn.
“Hands where I can see them.”
The man did not move.
Natalie saw the limp.
She saw the paper cup.
She saw Ashley’s terrified face.
“Turn around slowly.”
Instead, the man threw the cup.
Natalie ducked.
Liquid struck the wall, releasing a sharp chemical smell.
The man slammed into her shoulder and ran.
Natalie pursued him through the hallway.
“Police! Stop!”
He knocked over a medical cart. Metal trays scattered across the floor.
Two security officers rushed from the elevator.
The man swerved into the stairwell.
Natalie followed.
He descended two flights, then pushed through a maintenance door.
By the time Natalie reached the basement, he had disappeared among pipes, storage rooms, and laundry tunnels.
She found the stolen scrubs in a utility closet.
Inside one pocket was a matchbook.
HARTLEY HOUSE ANNUAL FUNDRAISER.
The date printed beneath the logo was twelve years old.
In the other pocket was a child’s hospital identification bracelet.
The name on it was faded but still readable.
EMMA VALE.
Natalie brought the bracelet to the evidence lab.
Then she returned to Ashley.
A toxicology technician tested the liquid from the wall. It contained a veterinary sedative strong enough to render a child unconscious.
The same sedative had been found in Andrew’s blood.
Ashley watched Natalie seal the bracelet inside an evidence bag.
“Who is Emma?” she asked.
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“The bad man said Daddy knows.”
Natalie sat beside her.
“Do you remember anything else he said?”
“He said Daddy stole me.”
“How did that make you feel?”
“Mad.”
“Not scared?”
“Both.”
“That’s okay.”
Ashley touched the empty space where her missing mitten should have been.
“People say bad things about Daddy.”
“Yes.”
“They always do.”
Natalie did not deny it.
“Why?”
“Sometimes people decide who someone is before they know the truth.”
“Did you decide?”
Natalie looked toward the ICU corridor.
“I’m trying not to.”
Ashley studied her.
“Daddy likes you.”
Natalie almost smiled.
“I’m not sure your father likes anyone.”
“He does. He just doesn’t know how to show it.”
The laboratory called an hour later.
The blood found on the bridge belonged to two people.
One was Andrew.
The second blood sample belonged to a male whose DNA was already in the national database.
His name was Elias Voss.
He had worked as a security supervisor at Hartley House.
He had been reported dead eleven years ago.
According to government records, Elias Voss had drowned in Canada.
Natalie stared at the screen.
The dead man had returned to Bellmere.
He had entered Andrew’s home.
He had tried to abduct Ashley.
He had attacked Andrew at the bridge.
And he had walked into the hospital carrying enough sedative to silence a child.
But one detail made no sense.
Elias’s archived driver’s license listed his eyes as brown.
The man in Ashley’s hospital room had gray eyes.
May you like
Either the identification was wrong.
Or Andrew’s enemy was not working alone.
