Chapter 6 - THE ELEVATOR LOG
Adrian locked the door.
Damian’s driver stopped outside.
No one inside the room spoke.
The handle moved once.
Then stopped.
A knock followed.
“Mr. Vale?”
Adrian did not answer.
“Mr. Thorne sent me.”
Marcus moved toward the door.
Khloe grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
Marcus looked back.
She shook her head.
Elaine was visibly trembling.
The driver knocked again.
“Mr. Thorne?”
Marcus finally answered.
“What?”
“Mr. Damian Thorne asked me to bring something upstairs.”
Marcus stared at the door.
“What?”
“Documents.”
“Leave them with security.”
A pause.
“He asked me to hand them to you personally.”
“I said leave them.”
Another pause.
Then footsteps moved away.
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“No one opens that door until security confirms he’s gone.”
Marcus nodded.
Elaine sat down.
Khloe studied her.
“What did you see?”
Elaine rubbed her palms against her skirt.
“At approximately 10:14, Isabella came through the private elevator.”
Marcus frowned.
“That elevator requires executive credentials.”
“I know.”
“Who opened it?”
Elaine swallowed.
“Damian.”
The name stayed in the room like smoke.
Marcus stared at her.
“You saw him?”
“No.”
Elaine shook her head.
“I saw his credential.”
Adrian looked toward her.
“Explain.”
“I was helping security reroute donors because the main elevator was overloaded.”
“The executive panel flashed the authorization name when the elevator unlocked.”
“D. Thorne.”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“That could be me.”
Elaine shook her head.
“Your credential says Marcus Thorne.”
“His says D. Thorne.”
Khloe remembered Thomas’s vibrating phone.
Adrian remembered the reflection.
D. THORNE.
Everything was beginning to point in one direction.
Too cleanly.
Adrian did not like that.
“What happened next?”
Elaine continued.
“Isabella stepped off.”
“She looked angry.”
“Not upset.”
“Angry.”
“She asked which suite Khloe was using.”
Khloe frowned.
“You told her?”
Elaine looked ashamed.
“No.”
“But she already knew.”
“She asked me to confirm the room.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her Mrs. Thorne was resting and wasn’t receiving visitors.”
“What did she do?”
“She smiled.”
Elaine looked at Khloe.
“Then she said she wasn’t a visitor.”
Marcus clenched his jaw.
“And you let her through?”
Elaine’s eyes filled with tears.
“I should have stopped her.”
Khloe said nothing.
Elaine lowered her head.
“I thought it was personal drama.”
“I thought maybe she and Marcus had some history.”
Marcus looked away.
Elaine continued.
“I didn’t think…”
She stopped.
Khloe finished for her.
“You didn’t think she would attack me.”
“No.”
Khloe’s expression remained unreadable.
Elaine wiped her eyes.
“After the glass broke, I ran upstairs.”
“That’s when Marcus arrived.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What did you lie about?”
Elaine looked toward him.
“After police came, Thomas Reed pulled me aside.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“What did he say?”
“He told me not to mention the elevator credential.”
“Why?”
“He said system logs were unreliable.”
“He said accusing Damian without proof could destroy my career.”
Marcus stood.
“And you listened?”
Elaine flinched.
“Yes.”
Khloe looked toward the fetal monitor.
Her voice was tired now.
“He didn’t just threaten your career.”
Elaine looked up.
“No.”
“What else?”
Elaine’s silence confirmed it.
Khloe waited.
Finally, Elaine spoke.
“My brother works for Thorne Capital.”
Marcus stopped.
“What department?”
“Risk management.”
“What did Thomas say?”
Elaine’s eyes filled again.
“That my brother’s division was already under review.”
“And that if I made reckless allegations, there was no guarantee he’d have a job Monday.”
Marcus looked furious.
Khloe did not.
Khloe looked disappointed.
That was harder for Elaine to face.
“I’m sorry.”
Khloe looked at her.
“I believe you.”
Elaine’s shoulders loosened.
Then Khloe added.
“But you should have told the truth the first time.”
Elaine nodded.
“I know.”
“You can fix that now.”
“How?”
“Tell Detective Brooks everything.”
Elaine nodded again.
“I will.”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“We need the elevator logs.”
“I’ll get them.”
“No.”
Adrian’s tone stopped him.
“You won’t touch anything connected to your company.”
Marcus stared.
“Why?”
“Because every system connected to you is already compromised.”
Marcus hated the truth of it.
Adrian called hospital security.
He requested logs.
Then he requested a second independent copy from the elevator manufacturer.
Marcus frowned.
“Why the manufacturer?”
“Because if someone changes ours, the remote diagnostics may still have the original event record.”
Khloe looked at him.
“You don’t trust your own system anymore.”
“No.”
Adrian’s answer was immediate.
“That’s why we’re going outside it.”
An hour later, Detective Brooks returned.
Elaine repeated everything.
This time on record.
Brooks asked precise questions.
Times.
Names.
Locations.
Words.
When Elaine finished, Brooks closed her notebook.
“Do not leave the city.”
Elaine nodded.
“Am I a suspect?”
“No.”
Brooks looked toward Marcus.
“But everyone touching this case is now a potential witness.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Including me.”
“Especially you.”
Brooks looked at Khloe.
“We also have preliminary results on the syringe.”
The room went still.
Khloe’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
“What was in it?”
“Magnesium sulfate.”
Marcus frowned.
“That’s used in pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
Brooks continued.
“But not at that concentration.”
Adrian looked up sharply.
“How much?”
“Enough to cause severe hypotension if pushed rapidly.”
Khloe stared.
“Could it hurt the baby?”
The doctor standing near the monitor answered.
“It could compromise both of you.”
Marcus’s face drained.
Brooks continued.
“There was also a sedative.”
Khloe closed her eyes.
Marcus whispered.
“They wanted it to look medical.”
Adrian nodded.
“A complication.”
“After trauma.”
Khloe opened her eyes again.
“Something doctors might blame on the attack.”
No one said it.
Because the implication was obvious.
The first assault could have been dismissed as rage.
The syringe could not.
Someone had planned a second stage.
Someone wanted Khloe too weak to speak.
Maybe worse.
Marcus looked at Brooks.
“Find Rachel Cross.”
“She disappeared from the garage before officers arrived.”
“What?”
Brooks’s expression hardened.
“The call claiming she’d been found unconscious was false.”
Adrian stared.
“Who called it in?”
“A hospital internal extension.”
Khloe looked at him.
Another system being used against them.
Brooks continued.
“The whole purpose may have been to pull staff away from this floor.”
Marcus turned toward Adrian.
“The guards.”
“Yes.”
Brooks nodded.
“Someone created a distraction.”
Khloe touched her stomach.
“That means the woman with the syringe was not Rachel.”
Brooks shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
Khloe frowned.
“You said Rachel was found.”
“That information was fabricated.”
“And the image?”
“Likely Rachel.”
Khloe went cold.
“So she may still be inside.”
Brooks nodded.
“Or close.”
The doctor checked the monitor.
Khloe watched his face.
“What?”
He hesitated.
Marcus noticed.
“What is it?”
“The baby’s heart rate dipped.”
Khloe froze.
“For how long?”
“Less than a minute.”
“Is that bad?”
“It can happen.”
The doctor adjusted the monitor.
“But given the trauma, I want another ultrasound now.”
Marcus took Khloe’s hand.
This time she did not pull away.
Not because she had forgiven him.
Because fear was bigger than anger for the moment.
As the nurses prepared her, Adrian’s phone rang.
He looked at the caller.
Security.
He answered.
“Yes.”
A pause.
His eyes narrowed.
“Send it to me.”
Another pause.
“Both copies.”
He ended the call.
Marcus looked at him.
“The elevator log?”
Adrian nodded.
“Our hospital record says Damian’s credential opened the elevator.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“And the manufacturer?”
Adrian looked at Khloe.
“It says the same credential number.”
Khloe exhaled.
Marcus stepped toward the window.
“So we have him.”
“No.”
Adrian shook his head.
“We have something worse.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
Adrian held up the phone.
“The manufacturer’s system also records physical badge serial numbers.”
Khloe frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the credential belonged to Damian.”
“But the physical badge used to activate it…”
Adrian looked directly at Marcus.
“…was issued to you.”
Marcus’s face went blank.
Khloe stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus slowly reached into his jacket.
He removed his wallet.
He opened it.
The executive badge was gone.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Marcus remembered the gala.
The crowd.
The photographs.
Isabella brushing against him.
Thomas hugging him.
Damian placing a hand on his shoulder near the stage.
Any of them could have taken it.
Khloe looked at her husband.
“Who had access to your jacket?”
Marcus did not answer immediately.
Then his face changed.
“One person.”
“Who?”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“Isabella.”
Khloe stared.
Marcus continued.
“She spilled champagne on me before the speeches.”
“She insisted on helping clean my jacket.”
Khloe remembered seeing them near the ballroom corridor.
She had thought it was flirting.
Maybe it had been theft.
Adrian’s phone buzzed again.
He looked down.
A message from security.
One still image.
A camera from the elevator hallway.
The timestamp was 10:14.
The person using Marcus’s badge wore a hooded black service coat.
The face was hidden.
But one hand was visible.
A woman’s hand.
And on the middle finger was a ring Khloe recognized immediately.
A black diamond surrounded by tiny emeralds.
Isabella had worn it to dinner three weeks earlier.
Marcus stared at the image.
“She used my badge.”
Adrian nodded.
Khloe looked at the photograph.
“No.”
Both men turned.
Khloe zoomed in.
“Look closer.”
She pointed at the wrist.
A tiny tattoo showed beneath the sleeve.
Three black dots.
Marcus frowned.
“Isabella doesn’t have a tattoo.”
Khloe’s voice became quiet.
“I know.”
Adrian stared at the image.
Someone had dressed like Isabella.
Someone had worn Isabella’s ring.
Someone had used Marcus’s stolen badge.
And someone had activated Damian’s credential.
Three people framed in one act.
Adrian whispered the conclusion.
“They’re not just hiding the truth.”
“They’re designing it.”
Before anyone could respond, the ultrasound technician called from the doorway.
“Mrs. Thorne.”
Khloe looked at her.
The technician’s expression was tense.
“We need to move.”
Khloe’s heart dropped.
“What happened?”
The woman glanced toward the doctor.
He answered.
“The placental separation has increased.”
Marcus tightened his grip on Khloe’s hand.
The doctor continued.
“If it increases again, we deliver.”
Khloe stared at him.
“When?”
The doctor looked toward the fetal monitor.
“Potentially tonight.”
And on the floor outside the room, someone silently slid a brown envelope beneath the door.
May you like
Inside was a single photograph of Khloe sleeping in her own bedroom.
Taken from inside her house.
