Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO STAY HOME
Adrian read the message three times.
Then he looked at Marcus.
“Somebody knew Mia.”
Marcus nodded.
“Apparently well enough to predict what she'd do.”
Adrian sat down.
For years, he had believed Mia's presence that night was an extraordinary accident.
She had been leaving work.
He had been attacked.
Their lives had collided.
But somebody had expected her to be there.
And somebody had tried to prevent it.
“Who had access to her schedule?” Adrian asked.
“Hospital administrators. Department supervisors. Staff coordinators.”
“Celeste?”
Marcus hesitated.
“She helped fund a hospital staffing program.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
The coincidence was becoming impossible to ignore.
Across the city, Mia was examining the photograph Nora had given her when she noticed something small.
The cream coat.
The gold buttons.
She remembered Celeste wearing it during a charity reception years earlier.
But that wasn't what disturbed her.
“There's something wrong with this picture,” Mia said.
Nora leaned closer.
“What?”
“The date.”
Mia pointed toward the hospital's seasonal decorations.
Small red ribbons hung near the elevators.
The photograph was dated October 12.
But those ribbons hadn't been installed until October 14.
Mia remembered because she had helped decorate the hospital that afternoon.
“The date is wrong.”
Nora frowned.
“Are you sure?”
“I tied those ribbons myself.”
Mia searched an old hospital newsletter on Nora's laptop.
There it was.
October 14.
A photograph of volunteers installing decorations.
Celeste's picture couldn't have been taken two days before the attack.
It had been taken the morning of the attack.
Someone had changed the date.
“Why?” Nora asked.
Mia studied the image.
Then she saw something in Celeste's hand.
A visitor badge.
Not three badges.
Four.
“Daniel said three,” Mia whispered.
Nora leaned closer.
The fourth badge was partly hidden behind Celeste's fingers.
Only its final printed letters were visible.
...PER.
Mia felt her throat tighten.
Harper.
Her maiden name.
“That badge was for me.”
Nora shook her head.
“You didn't need a visitor badge. You worked there.”
“Exactly.”
The room became silent.
Someone had prepared a visitor credential using Mia's name.
Which meant somebody might have been planning to impersonate her.
Or make it appear that she had authorized someone else's entry.
Mia looked toward the window.
For the first time, she wondered whether the accident had only been the beginning of a larger plan.
At Raymond Vale's lakefront residence, Adrian entered without an appointment.
His uncle was sitting beside a fireplace, reading the financial section of a newspaper.
Raymond glanced up.
“Adrian. Unexpected.”
“Six years ago, you approved three visitors for the hospital garage.”
Raymond slowly folded his newspaper.
“That was a long time ago.”
“Two of those visitors were connected to the attack on my car.”
“Are you accusing me of something?”
“I'm asking who they were.”
Raymond removed his glasses.
“You've always had enemies.”
“Then tell me which enemies you invited inside.”
His uncle's expression sharpened.
“Careful.”
Adrian placed the authorization form on the table.
“My signature was attached to a vehicle list I never approved.”
Raymond looked at it.
For a moment, genuine surprise crossed his face.
Then he leaned back.
“I warned you about delegating security.”
“You asked me to sign it.”
“Yes. For investors.”
“Which investors?”
Raymond said nothing.
Adrian leaned forward.
“Where were you when Mia was injured?”
His uncle's eyes changed.
“I was at the hospital.”
“Before or after the attack?”
Raymond stood.
“You need to leave.”
Adrian remained still.
“Tell me why someone created a visitor badge under my wife's maiden name.”
That finally broke Raymond's composure.
“Where did you hear that?”
Adrian felt a chill.
He hadn't expected his uncle to recognize the detail.
Raymond gripped the back of his chair.
“Listen to me carefully. Some things happened that night that neither of us understood.”
“Then explain them.”
“I can't.”
“Won't.”
Raymond's face looked suddenly old.
“Adrian, I made terrible decisions. But I did not order those men to hurt you.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Who did?”
Raymond turned toward the fireplace.
For several seconds, he seemed to struggle with himself.
Then he spoke.
“The fourth badge wasn't made for Mia.”
Adrian went still.
“It was made for someone using her name.”
“Who?”
Raymond looked at him.
“Your mother.”
Adrian stepped backward.
His mother, Eleanor Vale, had died when he was nineteen.
Raymond saw his expression.
May you like
And quietly added:
“Your mother wasn't the woman who used the badge. Someone was trying to make the world believe she had come back.”
