Chapter 4 - THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST
Mia examined the handwriting.
“Who wrote this?”
Nora pulled a chair closer.
“A hospital security clerk named Daniel Price. He retired three years ago.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“Yesterday.”
Mia looked up sharply.
“You went looking for him?”
“You asked me whether Celeste had connections to the hospital. I followed the records.”
“Nora, Adrian's family isn't something you investigate casually.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
Nora hesitated.
“Because six years ago, I watched you blame yourself for a tragedy somebody else may have helped arrange.”
Mia felt an uncomfortable tightening in her chest.
She remembered the night of the attack.
The flashing lights.
The smell of gasoline.
Adrian unconscious behind the wheel.
She had been leaving the hospital after a fourteen-hour shift when she saw the collision near the parking garage.
At first, she had thought it was an accident.
Then she heard shouting.
She had rushed toward the vehicle without recognizing its driver.
She remembered freeing Adrian's seat belt.
Calling for help.
The crushing impact as a support beam fell.
After that, there were only fragments.
Pain.
Sirens.
A hospital ceiling.
And Adrian sitting beside her bed with tears on his face.
She had never seen him cry again.
“Daniel said Celeste authorized three temporary visitor badges,” Nora continued. “Two were used by men who never attended their scheduled appointments.”
Mia stared at the photograph.
“Why wasn't this in the investigation?”
“Daniel reported it. His supervisor told him the matter had been handled.”
“Who was his supervisor?”
“Raymond Vale's private security contractor.”
The name made Mia's stomach turn.
Raymond.
Adrian's uncle.
The man who had brought flowers to her hospital room every Sunday during rehabilitation.
The man who had once called her the best thing that ever happened to his nephew.
Mia looked down at her stomach.
“Does Adrian know?”
“I don't think so.”
Mia reached for her phone.
Then stopped.
Nora watched her carefully.
“You can tell him without going back.”
Mia's eyes filled.
“That's what makes this so difficult.”
She had trusted Adrian with her life.
But she didn't know whether she could trust him with her heart.
At the Vale estate, Adrian stood inside the old security office.
Marcus had brought him a storage box containing archived visitor logs.
Several pages were missing.
But one document remained.
A temporary authorization form.
Three visitor badges.
Approved by Raymond Vale.
Processed through a hospital fundraising committee.
Adrian stared at the committee name.
Celeste Rowan.
His jaw tightened.
He remembered Celeste entering his life six years earlier as Raymond's business associate.
She had been charming, capable, and remarkably helpful during Mia's rehabilitation.
She had arranged medical consultations.
Recommended specialists.
Organized fundraisers.
Adrian had believed she was simply compassionate.
Now he wondered whether every kindness had been calculated.
“Where's Raymond?” he asked.
Marcus checked his schedule.
“At his lakefront residence.”
“Don't alert him.”
Adrian reached for his coat.
Marcus stepped forward.
“Sir, there's something you need to understand.”
“What?”
“Those visitor badges weren't enough to get anyone near your car.”
Adrian stopped.
Marcus placed another document on the table.
“A vehicle-access code was required.”
“Who approved it?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Your personal office.”
Adrian studied the signature.
It was his own.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Then he remembered.
Six years earlier, Raymond had asked him to approve a temporary security arrangement for an investor reception.
Adrian had signed without reading every attachment.
He had trusted his uncle.
And that trust might have almost killed him.
“I approved the access,” he whispered.
“You approved a general request,” Marcus corrected. “Someone changed the authorization afterward.”
Adrian looked at the altered form.
His signature was genuine.
The attached vehicle list wasn't.
“Can we prove it?”
“Possibly. The original digital copy was stored on a separate system.”
“Find it.”
Marcus nodded.
Then he hesitated.
“There's one more thing.”
He handed Adrian an old employee photograph.
It showed Mia standing outside the hospital entrance.
Her smile was bright.
Her hair was tied back.
She was holding a paper coffee cup.
Adrian recognized the photograph immediately.
He had kept a copy beside his bed during the first months of their marriage.
But this version had something his copy didn't.
A handwritten message across the bottom.
Don't let her take the evening shift.
Adrian looked up.
“Who wrote that?”
Marcus shook his head.
“We don't know.”
Adrian turned the photograph over.
A date was stamped on the back.
Three days before the attack.
His breath caught.
Somebody had known Mia would be near the garage that night.
Somebody had tried to keep her away.
May you like
And underneath the date was a second message.
If she sees what happens to Vale, she will try to save him.
