Chapter 10 - THE ROOM WITH NO WINDOW
Joan Bell was alive.
Retired.
And unwilling to talk on the phone.
Rachel drove to meet her with Ruiz while Daniel stayed at the hospital.
Two hours later, Joan walked into Caroline’s room.
Caroline covered her mouth.
“You came.”
Joan’s eyes filled.
“I should’ve done more.”
“You got us out.”
“I left you running.”
Joan sat down slowly.
She had worked at Harbor when Caroline arrived under instructions limiting visitors and telephone access.
“The chart said she was a danger to herself. Nothing I saw supported it.”
“Who signed the order?” Rachel asked.
“A physician who consulted for the facility. Dr. Malcolm Reese.”
Victor’s personal physician.
Daniel knew him.
He had sent flowers to the funeral.
Joan explained that Caroline’s mail went through the administrator. Calls were screened. Noah was brought in at set times and taken away when Caroline asked too many questions.
“One night I heard Mr. Mercer in her room.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What did he say?”
“That her husband could lose more than his family if she kept talking.”
Caroline stared at the wall.
“He told me Daniel had approved everything.”
Joan pulled a small notebook from her bag.
“I started keeping dates.”
There were eleven entries.
Restricted calls.
Missed medications.
An order to prepare Caroline for transfer to another private facility.
“That was when we left,” Caroline said.
Joan nodded.
“I called a friend with a car. Put the baby in a laundry cart long enough to get through the service hall.”
Noah blinked.
“A laundry cart?”
“For about thirty seconds,” Joan said. “You were very annoyed.”
For the first time since the sidewalk, Noah laughed.
Then Joan looked at Daniel.
“I tried your office after they were gone.”
“Victor answered?”
“No. Your assistant said all family matters went through him.”
Another door.
Another lock.
Rachel’s phone buzzed with newly obtained crash records.
She read silently.
Then she turned the screen toward Daniel.
The original investigating deputy had been paid as a security consultant by a company controlled by Victor.
Three weeks after the crash.
Daniel looked at the amount.
Fifty thousand dollars.
Below the payment record was a scanned note from the deputy.
Vehicle destroyed before mechanical inspection.
May you like
The brake estimate was no longer just an old piece of paper.
It was the only surviving record of what someone had done to the car.
