Chapter 4 - The House Without Their Names
Rachel Quinn answered on the first ring.
Lucas explained the situation from a quiet consultation room while Dr. Reyes remained with Sophia and Emma.
Rachel did not interrupt until he finished.
“Do not sign anything,” she said.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Do not accept copies provided by your mother or the hospital. Photograph every page exactly where you find it.”
“Why?”
“Because documents have a habit of changing after people realize they are evidence.”
Lucas looked through the glass wall at the nurses’ station.
“Can you come here?”
“I’m already on my way.”
He paused.
“How?”
“Captain Ward called me forty minutes ago.”
Lucas looked at the phone.
“He knew?”
“He knew enough to be afraid. He sent me your canceled leave request and the authorization code attached to it.”
“Arthur Mercer signed it.”
“I saw the name.”
“He’s dead.”
“Then someone is using the credentials of a dead man.”
Rachel asked Lucas to send photographs of every document he had seen.
When he photographed the guardianship authorization, she became silent.
“What?” Lucas asked.
“The witness line.”
He zoomed in.
A signature appeared beneath Sophia’s.
Jonathan Keller.
The hospital director had personally witnessed the document.
Rachel continued.
“There is also a recording number at the top. That means the authorization may have been filed with the county.”
“Can you check?”
“I already am.”
Five minutes later, Rachel called again.
“It was filed yesterday.”
“By Natalie?”
“No. By Hart Family Holdings.”
Lucas had never heard the name.
Rachel searched state business records.
Hart Family Holdings had been created nine days before Emma’s birth. Evelyn was listed as managing director. Natalie was listed as secretary.
The company’s mailing address was Lucas and Sophia’s home.
“What does our house have to do with this?” Lucas asked.
Rachel sent him another document.
It was a deed transfer request.
The form stated that Sophia had become medically incapable of managing property and that control of the house should temporarily pass to Hart Family Holdings.
The transfer had not yet been completed, but the request was scheduled for review the following morning.
Lucas felt sick.
The house had belonged to Sophia’s aunt. Sophia inherited it before the marriage, and Lucas had never claimed ownership.
His mother had spent years suggesting that Sophia should place the property into a family trust.
Sophia had always refused.
Now Evelyn was trying to take it while she lay in a hospital bed.
Rachel found more.
A request to control Sophia’s savings.
A new life-insurance beneficiary form.
An application for permanent guardianship of Emma.
Every document claimed Sophia was mentally unstable and that Lucas was unavailable due to indefinite military deployment.
“They planned this before the birth,” Lucas said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Your house is valuable, but it does not explain the level of coordination we’re seeing.”
“What would?”
“A larger asset.”
“I do not have one.”
“You may have something you do not know about.”
Lucas returned to room 417.
Sophia was awake, holding Emma against her chest while Dr. Reyes adjusted the baby’s blanket.
Evelyn and Natalie were gone.
“Where are they?” Lucas asked.
“They said they were meeting with hospital administration,” Dr. Reyes replied.
Lucas sat beside Sophia.
“Rachel found documents connected to the house.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“I knew it.”
“You knew?”
“Your mother kept asking about the deed. After Emma was born, she brought papers and said they were insurance forms.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“One page. Maybe two. But I crossed out the empty spaces.”
“Did you read them?”
“I tried. Natalie kept telling me Emma needed another procedure and that I had to hurry.”
Lucas fought to keep his voice calm.
“Do you remember the titles?”
“No.”
Sophia looked toward the door.
“The next morning, I heard them arguing.”
“About what?”
“Your mother said the house was not enough. Natalie said they needed proof that I could not care for Emma.”
Lucas thought of the interrupted treatment.
“They made her sick.”
“I don’t know.”
Sophia began to tremble.
“They would not let me hold her without supervision. When I asked why her medication was late, a nurse said the order had changed. Then your mother told me that if Emma became worse, everyone would finally understand I was dangerous.”
Dr. Reyes stood at the foot of the bed.
“The original treatment order was standard. The change was not.”
“Who changed it?” Lucas asked.
“The electronic entry used my identification.”
“Did you make the change?”
“No.”
“Can someone copy your access?”
“They would need my login or administrative authority.”
“Keller?”
Dr. Reyes did not answer directly.
“He has authority to edit records.”
Sophia touched Lucas’s hand.
“There was another woman.”
“What woman?”
“She came late at night. I never saw her face clearly. She wore a white coat and stood outside with Evelyn.”
“What did she say?”
Sophia frowned, trying to remember.
“She asked whether I had signed the Mercer release.”
Lucas felt the air leave his lungs.
“Mercer?”
“She said the name twice.”
Dr. Reyes looked toward the doorway.
A shadow moved beneath the frame.
Someone was standing outside.
Lucas crossed the room and opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
On the floor lay a small plastic memory card.
A strip of tape had been attached to it.
May you like
Written on the tape were two words.
CAMERA SEVEN.
