Chapter 4 - The Lie in the Hospital Room
Elena had not gone into labor.
The liquid had come from a ruptured container in Evelyn’s bag, not from Elena’s body. Evelyn claimed the bottle of mineral water had opened accidentally as she helped Elena from the car.
The doctor found no sign of active labor, but Elena’s blood pressure was dangerously high. He ordered several hours of monitoring.
Evelyn stayed beside the hospital bed.
She arranged flowers, spoke kindly to nurses, and kept one hand near Elena’s phone whenever it lay on the side table.
Julian arrived shortly after noon.
He kissed Elena, asked about the baby, and performed concern so convincingly that the nurses smiled at him.
When they were alone, he closed the door.
“What did you give Sarah?”
Elena looked toward Evelyn.
“She didn’t give her anything,” Evelyn said.
Julian’s face remained turned toward his wife.
“I saw the security notification from the house. You opened Father’s study panel.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“There are cameras inside the house?”
“For insurance.”
“You never told me.”
“I arranged them after Thomas died.”
“Without my permission?”
“I was protecting your property.”
“You were watching me.”
Julian leaned over the bed.
“Where is the recorder?”
Evelyn stood near the window, silent.
Elena felt her daughter move and placed a hand over the kick.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Julian’s gaze lowered to her belly.
The threat in his message returned to her.
Whatever you gave Sarah belongs to my family.
Get it back, or you will regret what happens next.
A knock interrupted them.
A nurse entered to check Elena’s blood pressure. Julian moved away and smiled.
The reading was higher than before.
“Mrs. Mercer needs quiet,” the nurse said. “Only one visitor should remain.”
“I’m her husband,” Julian replied.
Evelyn picked up her handbag.
“I’ll get coffee.”
As she passed the bed, she leaned close enough for only Elena to hear.
“Sarah cannot protect you.”
Then she left.
The nurse adjusted the monitor and whispered, “Do you want me to call hospital security?”
Elena stared at her.
The nurse’s badge read Marcus Lee.
“Why would I need security?”
“I’ve worked emergency medicine for fourteen years. I know fear when I see it.”
Julian stood outside the room speaking on his phone.
Elena lowered her voice.
“I need to make a private call.”
Marcus nodded.
He told Julian that Elena required an examination and closed the door in his face.
Elena called Sarah.
“Did you listen to the other recordings?”
“Not yet. I made copies first.”
“Julian knows.”
“Then we move quickly. Your father left me instructions, but I couldn’t act without proof that you had found the recorder willingly.”
“What instructions?”
“To file an emergency protective order and transfer the original Blackridge evidence to federal investigators.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“No. Thomas changed the location after someone searched his office.”
“What about Julian’s birth?”
Sarah hesitated.
“Evelyn was married to Richard Mercer when Julian was born, but Richard may not have been his biological father.”
“Who was?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were in the photograph.”
“I was Thomas’s junior associate. Evelyn worked as Blackridge’s financial controller. The man whose face was removed was Victor Hale, Blackridge’s director of acquisitions.”
“Could he be Julian’s father?”
“It’s possible.”
“Is Victor alive?”
“Nobody knows. He disappeared in 2001.”
Elena heard Julian arguing outside.
“Sarah, I need to leave Julian.”
“Yes.”
The certainty of the answer frightened her more than hesitation would have.
“How?”
“I’ll arrange a protected location. Do not go back to your marital home. Don’t tell him where you’re going.”
“My clothes, medical records, everything for the baby is there.”
“Objects can be replaced.”
“My father’s house can’t.”
“That house isn’t safe.”
“It contains the evidence.”
“And Julian is willing to threaten his pregnant wife to obtain it.”
The room door opened.
Julian entered with a hospital administrator. Marcus followed, clearly angry.
“My husband says there has been a misunderstanding,” the administrator said.
Elena ended the call.
Julian approached the bed.
“I’m taking my wife home.”
Elena looked at Marcus.
He could delay Julian, but not indefinitely. A protective order had not been filed. No visible bruise proved abuse. Julian would say stress had made her confused.
Elena placed her phone inside her handbag.
“I want to go to my father’s house,” she said.
Julian smiled.
“Of course.”
Evelyn reappeared with coffee as if she had been waiting nearby.
On the drive, Elena pretended to sleep. Julian drove while Evelyn sat in the passenger seat.
At one point, Evelyn whispered, “Did Sarah make copies?”
Julian glanced in the mirror.
“She always makes copies.”
“Then taking the recorder won’t be enough.”
“What do you suggest?”
Evelyn turned slightly, checking whether Elena was awake.
Elena kept her breathing slow.
“We need Elena to discredit Sarah herself.”
“How?”
“Fear works better when the victim believes she has no choice.”
Julian’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“What if she refuses?”
Evelyn looked through the window.
“She won’t.”
When they arrived, a black envelope lay on the front steps of Thomas’s house.
No stamp. No name.
Julian picked it up, but Elena took it from him.
Inside was a recent photograph of Sarah leaving her office.
A red circle had been drawn around her head.
May you like
On the back, someone had written:
Return the recorder by midnight, or the attorney dies first.
