Chapter 6 - The Procedure
Chloe’s procedure began shortly after sunrise.
Arthur watched the hospital doors close behind her bed.
Barnaby remained in his arms.
Before entering the operating area, Chloe had made him promise not to let Sarah touch the bear.
Arthur sat in the family waiting room with Dr. Levin and Detective Ortiz.
The detective explained what investigators had discovered.
Arthur struggled to process the numbers.
Two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars had been transferred into companies connected to Richard.
Another ninety thousand had been scheduled to move after Chloe’s procedure.
Sarah had signed the approvals.
Richard had hidden original documents inside the hospital because he feared an audit of his office.
“They used my daughter,” Arthur said.
“Yes,” Ortiz replied.
“I trusted them.”
“That is why they chose you.”
Arthur looked down at Barnaby.
“Why didn’t Chloe tell me?”
“She tried,” Dr. Levin said. “She was afraid you were already carrying too much.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
His seven-year-old daughter had tried to protect him from his own fear.
Ortiz asked for the recorder.
Arthur carefully opened Barnaby’s patched ear.
The recorder was gone.
His hands searched the bear again.
Nothing.
Arthur stood so quickly that his chair fell backward.
“It was here last night.”
Dr. Levin’s expression changed.
“Who touched Barnaby?”
“Sarah. Richard touched him when they arrived. A nurse moved him during Chloe’s preparation.”
Ortiz called hospital security.
Cameras showed Richard entering the administrative wing. Another camera captured Sarah standing near Arthur’s chair while he spoke to a nurse.
For six seconds, her body blocked the camera’s view of Barnaby.
When she stepped away, her right hand was inside her coat pocket.
“She took it,” Arthur said.
Ortiz sent officers to Sarah’s house.
Richard and Sarah were gone.
Their phones were turned off.
Their car had left the city before dawn.
Arthur wanted to leave the hospital and search for them himself.
Then the surgeon entered the waiting room.
Arthur forgot everything else.
“The procedure went well,” she said.
Arthur gripped the back of the chair.
“She’s all right?”
“She is stable. The next several hours are important, but we achieved what we hoped.”
Arthur covered his face.
For the first time in weeks, he allowed himself to cry.
When he entered Chloe’s recovery room, she was still asleep.
A nurse had placed Barnaby beside her.
The bear looked strangely small beneath the hospital blankets.
Arthur sat beside Chloe and held her hand.
“You did it,” he whispered.
Several hours later, Chloe opened her eyes.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Barnaby?”
“He’s here.”
“The recorder?”
Arthur hesitated.
“Sarah took it.”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
“But not the card,” she whispered.
“What card?”
“The real one.”
Arthur leaned closer.
Chloe lifted one weak hand and touched Barnaby’s lower paw.
Arthur examined it.
Beneath a small patch, he found a second memory card sealed inside a plastic sleeve.
Chloe had hidden a copy.
Arthur laughed through his tears.
“You really did think of everything.”
“Not everything.”
“What did you miss?”
“I forgot to tell you I love you before they took me inside.”
Arthur pressed her hand against his cheek.
“You just told me.”
Detective Ortiz copied the card immediately.
May you like
The recordings were complete.
Sarah and Richard could run, but they could no longer erase the truth.
