Chapter 6 - THE MAN IN THE STAIRWELL
Agent Mara reached the stairwell before the door closed.
The man in scrubs was already two flights below.
“Federal agent!” she shouted. “Stop!”
He looked up once.
Mara saw a surgical mask, gray hair, and a scar running above his left eyebrow.
Then he continued downward.
Mara pursued him.
The man moved quickly for his age. He threw a metal tray behind him, forcing Mara to jump aside. Instruments scattered across the steps.
On the neonatal floor, nurses surrounded Lily’s incubator.
Claire tried to stand from the wheelchair.
“What happened?”
The doctor checked the medication line.
“Her oxygen level dropped.”
“Why?”
“We’re investigating.”
Claire looked toward the missing vial.
“What was in that?”
The nurse examined the tray.
“It should have contained a lung medication.”
“Should have?”
“The label is correct, but we need to test what was inside.”
Claire’s face went white.
Someone had entered the guarded neonatal unit disguised as a doctor.
Someone had reached Lily’s medicine.
And the agents stationed outside had allowed him through because he wore the right badge.
Mara continued down the stairwell.
The man reached the ground floor and burst through an emergency exit.
An alarm sounded.
He crossed the ambulance bay toward a waiting delivery van.
Mara drew her weapon.
“Stop!”
The van door opened.
The man threw the vial toward a storm drain.
Mara lunged and caught his wrist before he could release it.
He struck her shoulder.
She twisted his arm behind his back and forced him to the pavement.
“Who sent you?”
He laughed beneath the mask.
Mara pulled it down.
The scar was more visible now.
She recognized him from an old licensing photograph.
“Dr. Samuel Hart.”
He stopped laughing.
“You’re under arrest.”
“You have no idea what you’re protecting.”
“You entered a neonatal unit under a false identification.”
“I was called for a consultation.”
“You stole medication from an infant.”
“I removed evidence.”
“Of what?”
Hart looked toward the hospital windows.
“Of the child’s real origin.”
Mara tightened the restraints.
“She was born less than two hours ago.”
“That is what Claire believes.”
Mara searched his pockets.
She found two hospital badges, a syringe, and a folded photograph.
The photograph showed Victoria Bennett standing outside North River Clinic nine years earlier.
Beside her was Richard Vale.
Between them stood a much younger Dr. Hart.
In Victoria’s arms was a newborn child.
Mara turned the photograph over.
A date had been written on the back.
The date matched Vanessa’s old medical record.
When Mara returned to the neonatal floor, Lily’s condition had stabilized.
The medication vial contained saline, not poison. Hart had apparently switched it before administration, causing the baby’s oxygen level to drop when she failed to receive the necessary medicine.
Claire sat beside the incubator, shaking with anger.
Mara showed her the photograph.
“Do you recognize the baby?” Claire asked.
“No.”
“Could it be Vanessa’s?”
“Possibly.”
“But why would they claim my baby belongs to them?”
Hart had refused to speak further after requesting Richard Vale as his attorney.
Mara did not tell Claire what he had said in the ambulance bay.
That is what Claire believes.
There were moments when information protected a person.
There were other moments when it destroyed their ability to think clearly.
Claire had just undergone surgery. Her child remained in intensive care. Mara decided to wait until she had verified Hart’s claim.
But Claire saw the hesitation.
“What are you keeping from me?”
“Nothing confirmed.”
“That is not the same as nothing.”
Mara pulled a chair closer.
“When you first joined the Bennett family, did they ask for genetic testing?”
Claire frowned.
“Victoria arranged a medical screening before the wedding.”
“What kind?”
“She said the family had a history of inherited heart disease.”
“Did Evan participate?”
“Yes.”
“Did you receive the results?”
“Victoria said everything was normal.”
Mara wrote something down.
“During your pregnancy, did Dr. Hart ever perform procedures you did not understand?”
“He did an amniocentesis.”
“When?”
“At twenty weeks.”
“Why?”
“He claimed the ultrasound showed a possible chromosomal abnormality.”
“Was one found?”
“No.”
“Do you have the laboratory report?”
“At home.”
Mara called another agent.
“Search Claire’s medical records at the Bennett residence. Secure all prenatal samples, test results, medication, and correspondence from Dr. Hart.”
Claire looked at Lily.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking your family’s financial crimes may be connected to a medical operation.”
“And my baby?”
“I don’t know yet.”
The elevator opened.
Evan stepped out with an agent beside him.
He had changed out of his wedding jacket. His shirt was wrinkled, and his cheek still carried a faint red mark from Victoria’s slap.
Claire’s body stiffened.
Mara stood.
“Why is he here?”
“The hospital contacted him as the presumed father,” the escorting agent explained.
“Presumed?” Evan repeated.
Claire looked at Mara.
Mara ignored the question.
Evan approached slowly.
“Is she alive?”
Claire turned back toward the incubator.
“Yes.”
“Can I see her?”
“You can see her through the glass.”
He stepped closer.
When he saw Lily, his face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire did not look at him.
“You said that before.”
“I didn’t understand how serious it was.”
“You saw water on the floor.”
“My mother said—”
“There it is.”
Evan fell silent.
Claire finally faced him.
“You always have a sentence that begins with your mother.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
“I didn’t know what to do.”
“I told you exactly what to do. Call an ambulance.”
Evan looked through the incubator.
“Is she really mine?”
The question struck the room like a blow.
Claire’s chair scraped against the floor as she turned.
“What did you say?”
He raised both hands.
“Richard told me there might have been a medical procedure.”
“What procedure?”
“I don’t know.”
“You asked whether the baby is yours before asking whether she will survive.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“It is exactly what you meant.”
Mara stepped between them.
“What did Richard tell you?”
Evan’s eyes moved toward the agent.
“That the baby was part of an arrangement.”
“What arrangement?”
“He said my mother made decisions years ago to protect Vanessa.”
Claire’s voice became quiet.
“What does Vanessa have to do with my daughter?”
May you like
Evan swallowed.
“I think Lily may have been promised to her.”
