Chapter 15 - the patient who knew lily’s name
Michael examined the key card beneath the kitchen light.
“It belongs to St. Aurelia,” he said.
Samuel looked toward the hallway.
Lily remained asleep.
“Room 617?”
“The sixth floor was closed after a fire seven years ago.”
“What was there?”
“Private recovery rooms.”
Samuel remembered Victor’s words in the station.
Your son works where I permit him to work.
“Could Evelyn have been kept there?”
Michael checked the card.
The magnetic strip showed fresh wear.
“Someone used this recently.”
They drove to the hospital before dawn, leaving Lily with Dr. Patel and his wife, who lived two houses away.
St. Aurelia was quieter than it had been all week.
The north doors opened automatically when Samuel approached.
He paused beneath them.
Six days earlier, those same doors had almost cost Lily her life.
Now no guard blocked the way.
Michael joined him.
“You all right?”
Samuel nodded.
“Open doors still frighten me.”
They took the service elevator to the sixth floor.
The button for level six did not light when pressed.
Michael used the key card.
The elevator began moving.
When the doors opened, they faced a dark corridor covered in dust.
Plastic sheets hung from the ceiling.
Most room numbers had been removed.
At the far end, a single light burned above room 617.
Michael and Samuel walked toward it.
The door was unlocked.
Inside was a narrow bed, a heart monitor, and an empty chair.
The equipment had been used recently.
A glass of water stood on the bedside table.
Beside it lay a child’s drawing.
It showed a house with a red door.
Three people stood outside.
A little girl.
An old man.
A doctor.
The drawing was almost identical to Lily’s.
Samuel picked it up.
“This isn’t hers.”
Michael turned it over.
A message had been written on the back.
Lily dreams about the house because someone has been showing it to her.
Michael stared at the words.
“How?”
A speaker in the ceiling crackled.
A woman’s voice filled the room.
“Michael.”
He looked upward.
“Evelyn?”
“You found the room.”
“Where are you?”
“I cannot tell you.”
“Victor is in custody.”
“Victor was never the person giving the final orders.”
Samuel moved beneath the speaker.
“Who sent the envelope?”
“I did.”
“Why bring Lily to the hospital?”
“Because I needed Michael to see her before they separated them forever.”
Michael clenched his fists.
“Who are they?”
The woman breathed shakily.
“The people who created Rosebridge.”
“The rehabilitation center?”
“It was not a rehabilitation center. It was a testing program.”
Michael glanced at the monitoring equipment.
“What did they do to me?”
“I tried to stop them.”
“Then come here and tell me everything.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because they still have someone.”
Samuel looked at Michael.
“Who?”
The speaker remained silent for several seconds.
Then Evelyn said, “Lily was not the only child born that night.”
Michael felt the room turn cold.
“What are you saying?”
The heart monitor beside the empty bed suddenly activated.
A steady pulse appeared on the screen.
Samuel stepped closer.
The monitor displayed a patient identification number.
No name.
Only a date of birth.
It was Lily’s birthday.
Michael looked toward the bathroom door.
A shadow moved beneath it.
He reached for the handle.
Evelyn’s voice burst through the speaker.
“Do not open that door.”
Michael stopped.
“Why?”
“Because the person inside has been taught that you destroyed their family.”
Something struck the bathroom door from the other side.
Once.
Then twice.
Samuel moved beside Michael.
A child’s voice came through the door.
Soft.
Frightened.
Familiar.
“Daddy?”
Michael’s hand trembled above the handle.
The hospital lights shut off.
Emergency alarms sounded across the sixth floor.
May you like
Through the darkness, Evelyn whispered one final warning.
“Michael, take Samuel and run. Lily’s sister has already been sent to find her.”
