Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Blue Scrubs
The entire hospital locked down in less than ninety seconds.
Elevators froze.
Security officers covered exits.
Daniel sent men to the parking garage, loading docks, stairwells, ambulance entrance, and roof.
Grace stood in the center of the corridor staring at the frozen security image.
“My daughter is three.”
Lorenzo turned toward her.
“I know.”
“She trusts people.”
“I know.”
“She thinks anyone who smiles at her is good.”
“I will find her.”
Grace looked at him.
“No.”
The word surprised everyone.
Lorenzo frowned.
“No?”
“We will find her.”
He stared at her for a second.
Then nodded.
“We.”
A nurse reported that one restricted elevator had moved from the pediatric floor to the basement during the lockdown.
Daniel checked his weapon.
Lorenzo started walking.
Mara blocked him.
“Lucas.”
He stopped.
“His heart rhythm is unstable. We have begun treatment, but I need authorization for an invasive procedure if he deteriorates.”
Lorenzo looked through the glass.
His son lay beneath white blankets, monitors surrounding him.
His son needed him.
Emma needed him.
For perhaps the first time in his adult life, Lorenzo Duca could not solve both problems by simply becoming more dangerous than everyone else in the room.
Grace touched his arm.
“Stay with Lucas.”
“My people can search.”
“So can I.”
“Grace—”
“My daughter disappeared because she helped your son.”
He flinched.
Grace regretted the words immediately.
But neither of them had time for regret.
“I’m going with Daniel,” she said.
“No.”
“You don’t get to tell me no.”
Daniel looked very interested in the floor.
Grace stepped closer.
“You want to protect your child. So do I.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“Nothing happens to her.”
Daniel nodded.
“Nothing.”
They found the abandoned blue scrubs beside a basement maintenance corridor.
Grace saw the jade bracelet first.
It lay on the floor.
“Vivian.”
Daniel crouched.
“There’s blood.”
Grace went pale.
A thin dark streak led toward a utility stairwell.
They followed it down.
At the bottom was an underground service tunnel connecting the hospital to an older outpatient building across the street.
The door had been forced recently.
Grace whispered, “Why would Vivian take Emma?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Because he did not know.
Across the tunnel, Emma sat behind a stack of folded wheelchairs eating crackers.
Vivian was beside her.
Alive.
Bleeding from the shoulder.
Grace ran.
“Emma!”
“Mommy!”
Emma scrambled up.
Vivian reached out.
“Quiet!”
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Step away from the child.”
Vivian laughed weakly.
“If I wanted to hurt her, she’d already be hurt.”
Grace pulled Emma into her arms.
She checked her face, arms, neck.
Nothing.
Emma hugged her.
“Miss Vivian said bad men were coming.”
Daniel lowered the gun slightly.
“Explain.”
Vivian pressed a hand over her bleeding shoulder.
“They’re already inside the hospital.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. But I expect Lorenzo to believe Emma.”
Grace looked at Vivian.
“You took my daughter.”
“I saved your daughter.”
“From what?”
Vivian reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a hospital ID card.
The photograph belonged to a male nurse.
The name was RONALD PIERCE.
“He approached Emma before I did,” Vivian said. “I saw him watching her. He works for Simon.”
Daniel took the card.
“How do you know?”
“Because Simon hired me.”
Grace’s arms tightened around Emma.
Daniel became very still.
“For what?”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“To watch Lucas.”
“And poison him?”
“No.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I switched the formula.”
Grace stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“The original packets were stronger.”
Daniel said nothing.
Vivian looked at Grace.
“About eleven months ago I realized Lucas got worse within hours of certain doses. I confronted Simon. He told me to mind my own business.”
“So you kept giving it to him?”
“I diluted it.”
Grace recoiled.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You suspected a six-year-old was being poisoned and you stayed quiet?”
Vivian’s face crumpled.
“They had my brother.”
The tunnel went silent.
“He lives in Vancouver. Simon sent me photographs of him leaving work. His apartment. His girlfriend. They told me if I spoke, accidents would happen.”
Daniel’s expression showed no sympathy.
“You could have come to Lorenzo.”
“You don’t understand what everyone believes about Lorenzo Duca.”
Grace did.
People believed Lorenzo was ruthless.
Unforgiving.
A man who might kill the messenger along with the message.
Vivian continued.
“I tried to slow it down. I switched bottles. I threw away packets. I changed lab samples when Simon ordered me to make certain results appear inconclusive.”
Daniel’s eyes sharpened.
“The toxicology test two years ago.”
Vivian nodded.
“I substituted a clean sample.”
Grace looked sick.
“You helped them hide it.”
“Yes.”
“And the pillow?”
Vivian’s eyes went to Emma.
“Simon began sewing backup packets into Lucas’s pillows because Lorenzo increased security around the medication cabinets.”
Daniel swore.
“I was trying to remove them last night. Emma saw me.”
“Why didn’t you destroy all of them?”
“I didn’t know how many there were.”
Grace looked at Emma.
The three-year-old was listening too closely.
She kissed her hair.
“You don’t need to hear this.”
Emma whispered, “Brother Lucas gets better now?”
Vivian’s eyes filled.
“I hope so.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Grace watched him.
Daniel ended the call.
“Someone just attempted to access Lucas’s IV line.”
Vivian stood too quickly and nearly collapsed.
“Ronald.”
“Security caught him.”
“No.” Vivian shook her head. “If they sent Ronald, they’re desperate. That means Simon knows Lorenzo found Alessia’s files.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Where is Simon?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“I don’t know!”
Emma spoke.
“The flower house.”
Everyone looked down.
Grace frowned.
“What flower house?”
Emma hugged her doll.
“The man with the gray hair said flower house.”
Vivian’s face drained of color.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Who?”
Emma pointed at the jade bracelet.
“When Miss Vivian was sleeping in the chair, gray-hair man came. He talked to medicine man.”
Daniel crouched.
“What gray-haired man?”
Emma struggled for the words.
“The one who calls Uncle Lorenzo ‘my boy.’”
Salvatore.
Daniel stood immediately.
Vivian shook her head.
“No. Simon doesn’t answer to Salvatore.”
“What?”
“Salvatore knew something was wrong, but Simon hates him.”
Daniel stared.
“Then who does Simon answer to?”
Vivian hesitated.
“Someone who has access to Alessia’s foundation.”
“Name.”
Vivian looked terrified.
“Adrian Vale.”
Grace had never heard the name.
Daniel had.
His face changed completely.
Adrian Vale had been Lorenzo’s attorney for fourteen years.
He had written the Duca family trusts.
He had handled Alessia’s estate.
And he was currently upstairs beside Lucas’s hospital room, waiting with Lorenzo.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
Before he could dial, the hospital lights went out.
The tunnel dropped into darkness.
Emma screamed.
Emergency lights flashed red three seconds later.
Daniel shoved Grace and Emma behind him.
A gunshot cracked from the far end of the tunnel.
Vivian fell.
Grace screamed.
Daniel fired toward the muzzle flash.
Footsteps retreated.
He ran after them.
Grace dropped beside Vivian.
Blood spread across her side.
Vivian grabbed Grace’s sleeve.
“Listen to me.”
“Don’t talk.”
“Adrian wrote the clause.”
“What clause?”
“The trust clause.”
Grace pressed both hands against the wound.
Vivian coughed.
“He doesn’t want Lucas dead because of money.”
“Then why?”
Vivian’s eyes struggled to stay open.
“Because if Lucas reaches seven…”
Her voice faded.
Grace leaned closer.
“What happens if Lucas reaches seven?”
Vivian whispered six words.
“He inherits proof Adrian killed Alessia.”
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Upstairs, Lorenzo Duca was standing beside Adrian Vale.
And Adrian had just quietly closed the door.
