Chapter 12 - ROOM 308
They drove to St. Vincent under police escort.
Room 308 was empty.
The bed had been stripped.
A nurse insisted no one named Mara Cole had ever been admitted.
Ortiz showed her the court order.
The nurse started crying.
"I was told the chart was sealed."
"By whom?"
"Dr. Vale."
They found Vale in the underground parking garage with a suitcase.
He tried to run.
Ortiz arrested him before he reached his car.
Inside the suitcase were cash, passports, and medication logs from a private room under a false name.
Mara had been sedated for three days.
"Where is she?" Ryan demanded.
Vale looked at the boy and went pale.
"I didn't hurt her."
"You drugged her."
"I kept her alive."
Daniel grabbed the doctor by the coat until Ortiz pulled him off.
Vale finally talked.
Miles had brought Mara in after she was taken from her apartment. Conrad wanted her declared unstable, then dead on paper. The plan was to move her to an overseas facility after the trust hearing.
"But she woke up," Vale said.
"When?" Ortiz asked.
"Last night."
"Where did she go?"
"I don't know."
Ryan stepped close.
"My mom doesn't leave without me."
Vale looked away.
That was when Claire noticed the scratches on his neck.
"You fought with her."
Vale shook his head.
"She fought with the orderly. She got out."
Ortiz pulled parking footage.
At 2:13 a.m., a barefoot woman in hospital clothes slipped into a delivery van.
The van belonged to Bennett Catering.
Daniel stared at the logo.
His father's company supplied events across the city.
One event was happening that night.
The annual Bennett Foundation gala.
At Bennett Tower.
Noah whispered, "She's going after the records."
Daniel understood.
The foundation offices held decades of private ledgers Conrad never trusted to computers.
Ryan ran toward the elevator.
"Mom."
They reached Bennett Tower at 7:40 p.m.
Guests in tuxedos and gowns filled the lobby.
Then the fire alarm began.
Above them, on the forty-second floor, an explosion shattered three windows.
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Daniel looked up.
And saw a woman standing behind the glass.
