Chapter 16 - St. Brigid
St. Brigid Wellness Center was not a hospital.
It was a private residential psychiatric facility two hours outside Chicago.
Nina found three former patients willing to speak.
All three described the same pattern.
A wealthy family member claimed a crisis.
A private transport team arrived.
Emergency paperwork followed.
Release became complicated.
"They were going to send me there," Sophia said.
Detective Ruiz nodded. "That appears to have been the contingency."
I thought of the intake forms at Sophia's apartment.
The plan had never depended on persuasion alone.
It depended on paperwork moving faster than truth.
Ruiz obtained records connecting Peter Voller to St. Brigid.
Over eight years, he had referred eleven people there.
Four referrals involved Vance executives' relatives.
Then one name stopped me.
Elisa Vance.
"Lukas's sister?" Nina asked.
I called her.
She answered on the second ring.
When I said St. Brigid, she began crying.
"I was there six years ago."
"Why?"
"I threatened to report Dad for hiding safety violations at the plant. Mom said I was having a breakdown."
My stomach turned.
"How long?"
"Nine days."
"Did Lukas know?"
A long silence.
"He thought I went to rehab."
The family's secret language was not German.
It was paperwork.
Label someone difficult.
Move them out of sight.
Then call it care.
Elisa agreed to give a statement.
An hour later, Ruiz called again.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"Ingrid knows we're moving on the trust fraud."
"How?"
"Because she just called an emergency board meeting for tomorrow morning."
"For what purpose?"
May you like
Ruiz read from the notice.
TO RECOGNIZE LUKAS VANCE'S EXPECTED CHILD AS CONTINUITY HEIR.
