Chapter 3 - THE EMPTY ROOM
Ethan’s helicopter landed in a field beside the facility.
Security teams surrounded the property.
Local police arrived after Marcus provided evidence of kidnapping and attempted murder.
The director of St. Catherine met them at the entrance.
Her name was Dr. Elaine Mercer.
She claimed no patient named Amelia Blackwood had ever been admitted.
Ethan held up Lily’s phone.
“Then explain the live feed.”
Dr. Mercer looked at the device.
Her confidence disappeared for half a second.
“There are dozens of rooms here.”
“We treat private patients under protected identities.”
“Open every room.”
“You need a warrant.”
Detective Carla Ruiz stepped forward with one.
The medical director said nothing else.
The room shown on Lily’s phone was located beneath the main building.
It contained an empty bed.
The restraints remained warm.
A drop of clear liquid hung from the syringe Victor had left behind.
On the wall, someone had scratched seven short lines into the paint.
One for each year.
Ethan found a strand of dark hair caught in the pillow.
Amelia’s hair.
He knew before the laboratory confirmed it.
A camera had been hidden inside the ventilation grate.
Its wireless transmitter matched Lily’s phone.
“Who installed it?” Marcus asked.
Lily raised her hand slowly.
“I did.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She explained that Nora gave her an old phone to play games.
During a visit to the “dark room,” Lily found a small camera inside a broken toy.
She hid it because Amelia once whispered that Ethan needed to see her.
“You met your mother?” Ethan asked.
“Only through the glass.”
“Nora said she was a sick lady.”
“Mommy told me my name.”
“She told me to call you Daddy if I ever saw the black ring.”
Ethan looked down at his right hand.
His wedding band was black titanium.
Amelia had chosen it.
That was why Lily used the word.
She had not remembered him.
She had followed her mother’s instruction.
Detective Ruiz found tire tracks behind the facility.
One vehicle belonged to Victor’s private security company.
Another was a medical transport van.
Marcus traced both toward the city.
Then Dr. Hayes called Ethan into the medication room.
Rows of locked cabinets held drugs purchased through Blackwood Health Systems.
The serial numbers had been removed.
A ledger listed patient code A-17.
Seven years of sedatives.
Memory suppressants.
Hormone treatments.
And repeated procedures marked EVALUATION OF CAPACITY.
Ethan stared at the page.
“They were trying to prove she was incompetent.”
Dr. Hayes nodded.
“If Victor obtained a permanent incapacity ruling, he could control her voting shares.”
A nurse appeared in the doorway.
She had been hiding in a supply closet.
“My name is Sarah Lin.”
“I took care of Amelia.”
“She left something for her husband.”
Sarah removed a folded piece of cloth from her uniform pocket.
It was a strip from Amelia’s hospital gown.
May you like
Four words had been written in blood.
VICTOR DIDN’T START FIRE.
