Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN AT THE CLINIC
The airport cameras showed Dr. Bell entering a small charter plane with Cynthia.
A third passenger had been wheeled aboard beneath a blanket.
The plane never took off.
It taxied toward a maintenance hangar and disappeared from public camera coverage.
Police searched the hangar.
They found blood, medical supplies, and tire tracks leading to a service road.
Cynthia had used the airport to create a false trail.
Vanessa agreed to cooperate in exchange for protection.
She gave detectives the name of the clinic where Elena had been held.
Rosebridge Women’s Recovery Center.
The facility stood two hours north of the city behind iron gates and high stone walls.
Its website described it as a private retreat for wealthy women recovering from stress.
There were no patient reviews.
No public medical license existed under that name.
Alexander, Marcus, and I traveled there with federal agents.
Lily remained with my sister under police protection.
Rosebridge appeared deserted.
The reception desk contained fresh flowers.
The patient rooms were empty.
Dinner plates still rested on tables.
Someone had evacuated the facility only hours earlier.
In a basement records room, agents found shredded medical charts.
Marcus recovered one page from beneath a cabinet.
It contained Elena’s signature.
The handwriting looked unsteady.
The document authorized an emergency transfer of parental rights.
Cynthia Whitmore was listed as guardian of the unborn child.
Alexander read the page twice.
“She would never sign this willingly.”
A soft sound came from the room next door.
We found a nurse hiding inside a supply closet.
Her name was Dana Brooks.
She claimed she had been hired three months earlier.
She believed Elena was a mentally ill widow named Evelyn Ward.
Dana said Elena rarely spoke.
She appeared terrified of Dr. Bell.
“She kept asking about a little girl,” Dana said.
“What little girl?” I asked.
“She said a child saw the truth before the adults did.”
Alexander looked at me.
Elena had somehow heard about Lily.
Dana revealed that Elena had been moved the night before the gala.
Cynthia ordered the transfer after learning that Elena had discovered the false-pregnancy plan.
“Where did they take her?” Alexander asked.
Dana shook her head.
“Dr. Bell mentioned a house near Blackwater Lake.”
Before agents could question her further, an alarm sounded.
Smoke began pouring from the records room.
Someone had ignited the basement.
As we rushed toward the stairs, Dana grabbed my arm.
“Cynthia said the baby must be born before Alexander finds Elena.”
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“Why?”
“Because Alexander is not the only Whitmore who can claim that child.”
