Chapter 4: The Woman Who Was Dead
Chapter 4: The Woman Who Was Dead
Claire's hand instinctively covered her stomach.
The fetal monitor continued its steady rhythm.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
The woman in blue scrubs stood perfectly still beside the hospital bed.
She looked exactly like the photograph on the ID badge.
Same blonde hair.
Same pale blue eyes.
Same gentle smile.
Only one detail refused to make sense.
According to every hospital record...
She had died four years ago.
Claire's voice barely escaped.
"Who are you?"
The woman glanced toward the closed door before answering.
"My name used to be Evelyn Brooks."
"Used to be?"
"They buried that name a long time ago."
Claire's pulse quickened.
"The police said you're dead."
"They're not wrong."
Silence settled over the room.
Then Evelyn pulled the visitor's chair closer and sat down.
"I don't have much time."
Claire reached for the emergency call button hidden beneath the bedrail.
Without looking, Evelyn quietly shook her head.
"If you press it, they'll know I found you."
"They?"
"The people who arranged tonight."
Claire froze.
"You know about Vivian?"
"I know Vivian isn't the person giving orders."
Downstairs, Detective Mercer stood inside the hospital's cybersecurity office.
Three computer specialists surrounded a wall of monitors.
One of them looked up.
"We recovered part of the deleted access log."
Mercer stepped closer.
"What do we have?"
"The prenatal records weren't opened once."
The analyst enlarged the timeline.
"They were accessed thirty-seven separate times."
Mercer's eyebrows narrowed.
"Over how long?"
"Seven months."
He stared at the screen.
Someone had been monitoring Claire's pregnancy almost from the beginning.
Weight.
Blood tests.
Ultrasounds.
Appointments.
Everything.
Another analyst spoke.
"There's something even stranger."
She opened a second window.
Every access occurred exactly three minutes after another patient's file had been viewed.
"A decoy."
Mercer whispered.
"They hid Claire's record inside normal hospital traffic."
The analyst nodded.
"Whoever did this understood our system better than most employees."
Mercer asked the question neither of them wanted answered.
"Can you identify the computer?"
The room fell silent.
Finally...
"It's not one computer."
"It's every computer."
Back upstairs, Claire stared at Evelyn.
"If Vivian wasn't behind this..."
"She believed she was."
Claire frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Evelyn folded her hands.
"Vivian thought she was helping protect the family fortune."
"And Grant?"
"He enjoys following orders."
"Ethan?"
For the first time, Evelyn hesitated.
"He knew pieces."
"Pieces?"
"He never knew the entire plan."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"He watched his stepfather hit me."
"I know."
"And he texted me afterward."
"I know."
"Then why are you defending him?"
"I'm not."
Evelyn leaned forward.
"I'm telling you something worse."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"Ethan believed tonight ended with a signature."
"What signature?"
"The legal papers."
Claire remembered them immediately.
The untouched documents waiting beside her dinner plate.
"They wanted me to sign property over?"
"Partly."
"What else?"
Evelyn looked directly into Claire's eyes.
"They needed your consent."
"For what?"
Evelyn answered with a whisper.
"Your daughter's guardianship."
Claire felt the room tilt.
"My daughter isn't even born."
"I know."
"How can anyone prepare guardianship papers before birth?"
"They can."
"No judge would approve that."
"They weren't planning to ask a judge."
Mercer's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"Mercer."
The voice on the other end sounded panicked.
"We found the attorney."
"What attorney?"
"The one who drafted Vivian's documents."
"Where is he?"
"...Dead."
Mercer stopped walking.
"Cause?"
"Looks like suicide."
"Looks like?"
The officer swallowed.
"There are bruises around both wrists."
Mercer's jaw tightened.
"Secure the scene."
"He left a note."
"What does it say?"
Only one sentence.
I signed the wrong family.
Claire looked toward the window.
Rain continued falling over Chicago.
"So what happens now?"
Evelyn stood.
"You're leaving."
"I'm not going anywhere until my baby is safe."
"That's exactly why you have to leave."
Claire frowned.
"This hospital has police everywhere."
Evelyn gave a sad smile.
"So did the last one."
"What last one?"
"The hospital where this started."
Claire's heartbeat quickened.
"When?"
"Twelve years ago."
"Started... what?"
Evelyn looked toward the hallway.
"They're coming."
Footsteps approached outside the room.
Several pairs.
Heavy.
Purposeful.
Evelyn lowered her voice.
"Listen carefully."
Claire nodded.
"When your daughter is born..."
She paused.
"...never let anyone take her for testing unless you physically walk beside her."
Claire whispered,
"What are they testing?"
Evelyn didn't answer.
Instead, she slipped a folded piece of paper beneath Claire's blanket.
"Read it only after I'm gone."
The doorknob turned.
Three hospital security officers entered.
Detective Mercer stepped in behind them.
He looked from Claire...
To Evelyn...
Then his face drained of color.
"Evelyn..."
The woman smiled gently.
"Hello again, Daniel."
Neither of them looked surprised to see the other.
Claire stared between them.
"You know each other?"
Mercer slowly removed his badge.
"I've been looking for her..."
He paused.
"...for four years."
One of the security officers stepped forward.
"Sir, that's the suspect."
Mercer didn't move.
Instead, he quietly said,
"No."
His eyes never left Evelyn.
"She's the only witness who's still alive."
At that exact moment, the lights across the maternity floor went out.
Total darkness swallowed the room.
A single gunshot echoed somewhere down the hallway.
Then came a woman's scream.
When the emergency lights flickered back on three seconds later...
Evelyn Brooks had vanished.
Only the folded note remained beneath Claire's blanket.
On the outside, written in hurried blue ink, were six chilling words:
Don't trust the man beside you.
Claire slowly looked up.
Detective Daniel Mercer was standing only three feet away.
May you like
And he was staring at the note with unmistakable fear.
End of Chapter 4
