Chapter 4 - THE TRANSFER ORDER
By morning, the hospital had become a maze of locked doors and whispered conversations.
Genevieve hated all of it.
She hated the security officer outside her room.
She hated the way nurses now checked every cup before handing it to her.
Most of all, she hated that Nora startled every time someone raised their voice.
Sarah arrived with coffee she forgot to drink.
“I filed for an emergency protective order against Julian and Eleanor.”
“Good.”
“They filed something too.”
Genevieve closed her eyes. “Of course they did.”
Sarah placed a petition on the table.
Julian was asking the court to declare Genevieve temporarily incompetent.
The attached statement described her as confused, emotionally unstable, and unable to distinguish reality from paranoia.
“He says I’m imagining the forgery?”
“He says postpartum trauma has made you suspicious and irrational.”
Genevieve laughed once. It sounded ugly even to her.
Tessa entered before Sarah could answer.
“I need you both to see this.”
She held up a transfer order.
Genevieve’s name was printed across the top.
Destination: Vale Recovery Center.
She knew the place. Eleanor’s charitable foundation owned it.
“I never agreed to transfer.”
“The order says you did.”
Sarah read the signature block.
Another perfect copy of Genevieve’s signature.
Tessa continued. “Transport was scheduled for six this morning.”
Genevieve looked at the clock.
6:07.
A cold feeling moved through her.
“If Sarah hadn’t come last night…”
“You would already be gone,” Tessa said.
Ortiz arrived ten minutes later with an evidence bag.
Inside was a clear plastic syringe cap found beneath Genevieve’s bed.
The lab had run an emergency screen on Genevieve’s blood.
Ortiz pulled a chair close.
“There’s a sedative in your system that nobody on your medical team prescribed.”
Genevieve stared at her.
May you like
Ortiz’s next words were quieter.
“And someone tried to move you to a private facility before that result came back.”
