Chapter 17: The Hospital Records

For several seconds, I couldn't speak.

My mother's death had always been the one wound I had learned to live around.

Now Evelyn had opened it again.

“You're saying my mother was alive after the crash?” I asked.

Evelyn nodded.

“For almost six hours.”

“And nobody told me?”

“You were twelve. Robert told everyone you were too young to understand.”

My hands curled into fists.

“What happened during those six hours?”

Evelyn lowered her voice.

“Claire regained consciousness once.”

My heart hammered.

“She asked for you.”

Tears blurred my vision.

“Did she say anything else?”

“She told the nurse that Robert had caused the crash.”

I stared at her.

“Then she asked the nurse to contact me.”

“But the nurse never did.”

Evelyn shook her head.

“Because someone removed your mother's file from the hospital system.”

She handed me a photocopy.

At the top was the hospital's name.

Beneath it was my mother's patient number.

The admission time was listed.

But the discharge section had been altered.

“This says she died twenty minutes after arriving.”

“That was the falsified record,” Evelyn said.

“The original showed she survived much longer.”

I looked at the signature approving the amended record.

My stomach tightened.

It belonged to a doctor named Samuel Price.

Daniel had mentioned that name once.

“Who is Dr. Price?”

Evelyn's expression darkened.

“He was the physician who treated your mother.”

“Where is he now?”

“Retired.”

“Alive?”

“Yes.”

I immediately reached for my phone.

Before I could search his name, Daniel called.

“Nora, don't contact anyone connected to the hospital yet.”

“Why?”

“Because someone has already accessed the old records.”

I froze.

“How do you know?”

“I have a source inside the hospital system. The file was accessed this morning using an administrator's credentials.”

Evelyn looked at me.

“They know we found the records.”

A cold feeling spread through my chest.

Someone was watching.

Daniel continued.

“I'm sending you the address of a secure storage facility. Your mother's original files are there.”

“Why didn't Evelyn bring them?”

“Because some of the evidence is too dangerous to keep together.”

The call ended.

I looked at Evelyn.

“We need to go.”

She nodded.

We left through the library's side entrance.

Daniel's storage facility was twenty minutes away.

Inside a locked unit, we found several boxes labeled with my mother's handwriting.

One box contained financial records.

Another contained photographs.

The third was almost empty.

Except for a sealed envelope.

My name was written across the front.

I opened it carefully.

Inside was a single sheet of paper.

“Nora, if you are reading this, then the people I feared have finally been exposed.”

I swallowed hard.

“There is one person I trusted completely.”

The next sentence made my heart race.

“His name is Daniel Mercer.”

I looked at Daniel.

He stood silently across the room.

“My mother trusted you.”

He nodded.

“Until the day she died.”

I continued reading.

“If Daniel ever tells you that I died because of the crash, don't believe him.”

My eyes widened.

I slowly lowered the letter.

Daniel's face had gone pale.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

He didn't answer.

“Daniel.”

He finally spoke.

“Your mother asked me to protect you.”

“Then why does this letter say I shouldn't trust you?”

His eyes closed.

“Because Claire discovered something about me before she died.”

Evelyn stepped forward.

“Daniel, she deserves the truth.”

He looked at me.

“I wasn't the one who caused the accident.”

“But you were there.”

He nodded.

“I arrived before the ambulance.”

My breath caught.

“Then you saw what happened.”

“Yes.”

“Who was driving the other car?”

Daniel hesitated.

Then he gave me the answer I had spent twelve years waiting for.

“Your mother wasn't hit by your father's car.”

I stared at him.

“She was hit by a vehicle registered to Victor Hale.”

The room went silent.

Victor Hale.

The third man behind the financial scheme.

The man who was still moving millions through the Lakefront project.

Then Daniel added one final sentence.

“And Victor wasn't alone that night.”

My phone suddenly buzzed.

A new message appeared from Caleb.

“Nora, please come back to Denver.”

A second message followed.

“I know who was in the car with Victor.”