Chapter 6 - The Woman in the White Coat
Lucas moved between the door and the hospital bed.
Dr. Reyes activated the emergency light above the bassinet. A narrow beam filled the room with dim blue illumination.
The lock clicked again.
“Who is there?” Lucas called.
No one answered.
Rachel closed her laptop and placed the memory card inside her coat.
The handle turned.
Lucas held it shut.
A voice came through the door.
“Medical transport.”
Dr. Reyes looked at the clock.
The transfer was not scheduled for another forty minutes.
She approached the door but stayed behind Lucas.
“What is your authorization number?”
There was a pause.
“AM-417.”
Rachel silently mouthed the words.
Do not open it.
Dr. Reyes raised her voice.
“This patient is not cleared for transport.”
“We have an executive override.”
“From whom?”
“Dr. Keller.”
Lucas heard the sound of a keycard being pressed against the electronic reader.
The lock released.
He forced it closed again.
Another voice joined the first.
“Sir, step away from the door.”
Sophia held Emma tightly.
The baby had stopped crying, but her fever remained high.
Rachel called emergency services.
The call failed.
“No signal,” she said.
Dr. Reyes tried the hospital internal line.
Nothing.
“They cut the room’s communication,” she said.
Lucas looked toward the window.
They were four floors above the ambulance entrance.
Red and blue light flashed through the rain below.
A police vehicle had arrived.
The people outside the room heard it too.
Footsteps moved quickly down the corridor.
Lucas opened the door.
Two men in dark transport uniforms disappeared through the stairwell.
Neither wore hospital identification.
Dr. Reyes checked the nurses’ station.
It was empty.
A computer monitor displayed a building emergency message, but there was no storm-related outage. The maternity floor had been manually isolated from the hospital network.
Rachel’s phone regained service.
She received three messages at once.
Detective Cruz and Detective Hale were in the lobby, but hospital security refused to let them upstairs without confirmation from administration.
Rachel called Cruz directly.
“Use the east service elevator,” she said. “Someone attempted an unauthorized patient transfer. We have a critically ill infant and evidence of falsified records.”
A door opened behind them.
Natalie stepped out of the staff lounge.
Her blonde hair was damp around her face, and she carried Sophia’s phone.
Lucas moved toward her.
“Where is Mom?”
Natalie stared at the police lights below.
“She said she was fixing this.”
“Fixing what?”
Natalie handed Sophia’s phone to him.
“I did not know Emma’s treatment was being stopped.”
“You signed the refusal.”
“Mom said it was a temporary delay.”
“You signed it.”
“She told me the medication could be dangerous.”
“Dr. Reyes ordered it.”
“Keller agreed with Mom.”
Dr. Reyes looked at Natalie.
“Keller never examined the baby.”
Natalie’s face crumpled.
“I thought we were protecting her.”
“By locking her mother in a room?” Rachel asked.
Natalie rubbed her arms as if she were cold.
“Sophia was going to take Emma away from us.”
Sophia appeared in the doorway behind Lucas, still holding the baby.
“I was going home.”
Natalie looked at her.
“Mom said you planned to disappear while Lucas was deployed.”
“I planned to stay in my own house.”
“She said you were selling it.”
“That house belonged to my aunt.”
“Mom said the property was supposed to become part of the Hart trust.”
“There is no Hart trust,” Lucas said.
Natalie looked at him.
“Yes, there is.”
Rachel stepped closer.
“Where did your mother show it to you?”
“At the lawyer’s office.”
“What lawyer?”
Natalie swallowed.
“Mercer.”
Lucas felt the name strike him again.
“Arthur Mercer is dead.”
“That is what Mom told us when we were children,” Natalie said. “But two months ago, she took me to meet someone who called herself Anna Mercer.”
“The woman in the white coat?” Rachel asked.
Natalie looked confused.
“She is not a doctor.”
“Who is she?”
“She said she represented Northstar.”
Lucas exchanged a look with Rachel.
“What did she want?” he asked.
Natalie lowered her voice.
“She wanted Sophia declared incompetent before Emma’s birth.”
“Why?”
“I do not know everything.”
“What do you know?”
Natalie began crying.
“Mom said there was an inheritance connected to the first Hart child born after Dad’s death.”
Lucas stared at her.
“Our father did not leave an inheritance.”
“That is what we were told.”
Rachel opened her laptop again.
“Did Anna Mercer give you documents?”
“She gave Mom a sealed folder.”
“What was written on it?”
Natalie tried to remember.
“Northstar Continuity Agreement.”
Dr. Reyes returned to Emma’s bedside as another alert sounded.
“The fever is rising.”
Sophia looked at the doctor.
“What does she need?”
“I need to restart the original treatment immediately.”
“Do it.”
Dr. Reyes looked toward Lucas.
“Because the guardianship order is still active in the system, administration may attempt to stop us.”
Sophia’s voice became firm.
“I am her mother. I consent.”
Dr. Reyes began preparing the treatment.
Lucas turned back to Natalie.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Natalie looked toward the dark stairwell.
“She went to meet Anna.”
“Where?”
“Keller’s office.”
Detective Cruz and Hale emerged from the east elevator.
Lucas pointed toward the stairs.
“My mother is downstairs with the person behind this.”
Cruz motioned for Hale to follow.
Before they could leave, the elevator opened again.
Evelyn stepped onto the floor.
She was alone.
Her clothing was perfectly arranged, but her face looked different.
The confidence was gone.
There was bloodless fear around her eyes.
“Lucas,” she said, “we need to leave now.”
“Who were you meeting?”
Evelyn looked at Natalie holding the returned phone.
“What have you told them?”
“The truth,” Natalie whispered.
Evelyn crossed the corridor and slapped the phone from her hand.
Detective Cruz stepped forward.
“Do that again, and you will be restrained.”
Evelyn froze.
Lucas looked behind his mother.
“Where is Anna Mercer?”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“You know her name?”
Rachel studied her carefully.
“Why does that frighten you?”
A fire alarm suddenly began sounding throughout the hospital.
Red emergency lights flashed above the doors.
The elevator display went blank.
Evelyn looked toward room 417.
“They are not here for me,” she said.
Lucas followed her gaze to his wife and daughter.
“Then who are they here for?”
May you like
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“The baby.”
