CHAPTER 4 — CODE BLUE
CHAPTER 4 — CODE BLUE
For one second, I thought she was dead.
Then the nurse grabbed the loose monitor lead from beneath the blanket.
“It’s disconnected.”
Mom was still breathing.
Barely.
The nurse checked her pulse.
“She’s sedated.”
“What?”
“She was alert thirty seconds ago.”
A harsh chemical smell hung near the IV line.
The nurse looked at the bag.
“This isn’t ours.”
Someone had injected something into the port.
“Code blue!” she shouted.
The room filled with hospital staff.
I was pushed into the hallway as they worked.
The fire alarm continued blaring.
Patients were being moved toward the stairwells.
Smoke rolled from a supply room at the far end of the floor.
It was too coordinated.
A false fire.
A contaminated IV.
Someone had come for Mom.
I turned toward the nurses’ station.
A man in blue scrubs walked quickly toward the service elevator.
He wore a surgical mask and cap.
But I recognized his eyes.
Dr. Samuel Kerr.
“Stop!”
He glanced back.
Then ran.
I followed him.
He pushed through the service door and disappeared into the stairwell.
I reached the door seconds later.
The stairs echoed with footsteps below.
“Hospital security!” I shouted.
No answer.
I ran down one flight.
Then another.
By the third floor, the footsteps stopped.
A door slammed.
When I reached the second-floor corridor, it was empty.
I called Wells.
“Kerr is at the hospital.”
“What?”
“He tampered with Mom’s IV.”
“Where are you?”
“Second floor, east wing.”
“Do not chase him alone.”
“He’s escaping.”
“Elena.”
I ignored him and continued toward the loading dock.
The rear door stood open.
Rain had begun falling.
A black sedan pulled away from the curb.
I caught only part of the license plate.
7KJ.
Then it disappeared into traffic.
Hospital security arrived behind me.
I gave them the description and returned upstairs.
The fire had already been contained.
A trash bin had been deliberately ignited.
Mom was still alive.
The doctor met me outside the room.
“We administered an antidote. Her breathing is improving.”
“What was injected?”
“We’re testing it.”
“Could it have killed her?”
“Yes.”
The word landed without softness.
“How did someone reach her IV?”
“We’re reviewing cameras.”
I stepped into the room.
Mom looked impossibly small beneath the white sheets.
Her skin was pale.
Her breathing came through an oxygen mask.
I sat beside her and held her hand.
This time, she did not flinch.
Two detectives arrived within twenty minutes.
Wells came with them.
He looked furious.
“At Kerr?”
“At you.”
“That can wait.”
“No, it can’t. You chased a murder suspect through a hospital alone.”
“He was getting away.”
“And he did.”
I looked back at Mom.
“Then find him.”
Wells lowered his voice.
“We found Chloe’s SUV abandoned near the train station.”
“Was the blue box inside?”
“No.”
“Any blood?”
“No.”
“Phone?”
“Destroyed.”
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
A security camera had captured Chloe leaving the bank.
She was not alone.
Dr. Kerr stood beside her.
He was carrying the blue box.
“They planned this together,” I said.
“Looks that way.”
“Julian knew?”
Wells hesitated.
“He’s asking for a lawyer.”
“That means yes.”
“It means he’s asking for a lawyer.”
I hated his precision because it sounded like my own.
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
There was no text.
Only a video.
I opened it.
Chloe sat inside a dim room, holding the blue box on her lap.
She looked frightened.
Not smug.
Not polished.
Frightened.
Dr. Kerr stood behind her.
His hand rested on her shoulder.
“Tell your sister,” he said.
Chloe swallowed.
“Elena, Julian lied to all of us.”
Kerr tightened his grip.
She winced.
“He said your father died before he could change the will. But Julian didn’t just watch him die.”
The video shook slightly.
“He made sure of it.”
Kerr leaned toward the camera.
“Bring the original evidence against me, and you get the box.”
The recording ended.
Wells immediately called the digital unit.
I replayed the video.
Something bothered me.
Chloe’s eyes kept moving toward the lower-right corner.
Not randomly.
Repeatedly.
A signal.
I enlarged the frame.
In the corner, reflected in a metal cabinet, was a red and white logo.
North County Cold Storage.
An abandoned meatpacking warehouse twenty miles outside town.
Wells saw it too.
“We move carefully.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“No?”
“Kerr wants me there.”
“Exactly.”
“So we make him believe I’m coming alone.”
Wells shook his head.
“Absolutely not.”
My phone rang again.
This time it was Julian’s lawyer.
“Ms. Vance,” he said, “your brother would like to make a statement.”
“Then he can make it to the police.”
“He will only speak to you.”
“Why?”
The lawyer lowered his voice.
“Because Dr. Kerr isn’t working for Julian anymore.”
A pause.
“He’s planning to kill Chloe, destroy the box, and blame your brother for everything.”
I stared through the hospital window into the rain.
May you like
“Why should I believe him?”
“Because Julian says Kerr has already killed once.”
