Chapter 4 - The Envelope
Inside the envelope was a photocopied ledger page, a key, and a handwritten note from Carlo Moretti.
Adrian read the note standing up.
Eleanor,
If I fail to finish this, keep the copy away from Salvatore. Give it to my son only if he becomes the kind of man who asks questions before giving orders.
Mom said, "Your father believed Salvatore was rebuilding the hospital scheme through new companies."
The ledger listed payments to doctors, procurement managers, private clinics, and a company called Argent Care.
One name had been circled.
DANIEL RICE.
I stared at Mom's doctor.
"Dr. Rice?"
Mom shook her head.
"Different first name."
Adrian called Dr. Rice anyway.
Her father had been Daniel Rice.
He died eight years ago.
He had worked in pharmaceutical compliance.
Dr. Rice came to our house within an hour.
When she saw the ledger, she sat down slowly.
"My father spent the last year of his life trying to prove hospitals were being billed for one product while receiving another."
"Did he name Salvatore?" Adrian asked.
"No. He kept saying the problem was protected by people who looked respectable."
Dr. Rice examined the infusion package from Mom's reaction.
"I want this independently tested."
Adrian nodded.
"Do it."
I looked at him.
"You can't order her around."
He looked at Dr. Rice.
"Please do it."
She almost laughed.
Before leaving, she asked who else knew Mom had the old ledger.
Mom answered, "Nobody."
Adrian looked at me.
"Until last night."
The gala.
People had seen him leave with me.
His uncle had learned my name.
And if Salvatore checked who I was, he could find Eleanor Hart.
The woman who had once helped expose Bellador.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
It showed me standing beside Mom's hospital bed earlier that week.
Taken through the room window.
May you like
Under the picture were six words.
TELL MORETTI THE WAITRESS WALKS AWAY.
