Chapter 6 - The Woman with the Red Badge
The woman’s smile remained in place, but her eyes changed.
Dr. Carter stepped between her and the gurney.
“What’s your name?”
“Patricia Wells. Patient operations.”
“Show me your badge.”
Patricia touched the red card at her collar without removing it.
“We have a surgical suite ready.”
“Which suite?”
“Four.”
Dr. Carter looked toward the second nurse.
“Suite Four is closed for ventilation repairs.”
Patricia’s smile vanished.
I pulled out my phone and raised it toward her.
“You’re being recorded.”
She looked directly into the lens.
Then she reached for the privacy curtain and yanked it across the room, blocking the hallway’s view.
The movement was fast, but Dr. Carter reacted faster.
She caught Patricia’s wrist.
The second nurse moved to the other side.
“Step away from the child,” Dr. Carter said.
Patricia twisted violently. Her red badge snapped from its clip and fell to the floor.
I saw the printed photograph.
It was not her face.
The badge belonged to a hospital administrator named Lauren Pike.
Patricia drove her shoulder into Dr. Carter and lunged toward the gurney.
I shoved the bed backward while the nurse grabbed Patricia around the waist. Patricia kicked free and reached into her pocket.
For one terrible second, I expected a weapon.
She pulled out a capped syringe.
Dr. Carter slapped it from her hand.
It skidded beneath the examination cabinet.
Patricia ran.
The second nurse grabbed the back of her scrub top, but the fabric tore. Patricia escaped into the corridor wearing a black undershirt.
Dr. Carter called the detective’s number while I kept both hands around Noah’s.
His entire body shook.
“Was she at your house?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Where?”
“Under the garage.”
“What was she doing?”
“Talking to Mommy.”
“Was Mommy awake?”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
“She was tied to the chair.”
My throat closed.
“What did Patricia say to her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try, sweetheart.”
Noah’s voice became a whisper.
“She said Mommy had to make the video again.”
“What video?”
“The one saying she went away.”
The story Brandon gave us had not been his invention alone.
Someone had forced Emily to record a statement claiming she had abandoned the family.
That explained why police may have treated her disappearance as voluntary. If they had received a video of Emily saying she left, Brandon’s account would appear credible.
“Did your mommy record it?”
“She kept saying it wrong.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Daddy hurt her.”
Noah’s breath hitched.
“Then the red lady got mad.”
Dr. Carter returned to the gurney.
“We need to move now. The surgical team is assembled on the secure floor.”
“Can we trust the staff?”
“I’ll go with him.”
“So will I.”
She hesitated.
“You may have to wait outside the operating room.”
“I won’t leave the floor.”
Detective Cole called back. The false administrator’s photograph had been sent to security, but several hospital cameras stopped recording during the lockdown.
The woman had entered using Lauren Pike’s stolen badge.
Lauren herself had not reported to work.
Police were being sent to her home.
“What was in the syringe?” I asked.
“We recovered it,” Dr. Carter said. “The pharmacy will test it.”
The second nurse pushed Noah toward the elevator.
I walked beside him, holding his hand.
When the elevator doors opened, Claire was inside on a trauma stretcher.
Her eyes widened when she saw us.
A nurse tried to keep the two beds separated, but Claire reached toward me.
“Don’t take him upstairs.”
“He needs surgery.”
“They control the operating rooms.”
Dr. Carter shook her head.
“My team is waiting.”
Claire looked directly at her.
“One of your surgeons works for Brandon.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name.”
The elevator doors began closing.
Claire forced out another sentence.
“He wears a silver ring with a black stone.”
Dr. Carter’s expression changed.
The surgeon scheduled to operate on Noah was Dr. Martin Vale.
He wore a silver class ring with a large black stone.
The elevator started rising.
Dr. Carter pressed the emergency stop.
Too late.
The lights went out between floors.
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In the darkness, Noah screamed as someone’s hand grabbed his ankle from beneath the blanket.
📖 Find out who was hiding between the two gurneys inside the stalled elevator—and why they carried a photograph of Emily in CHAPTER 7. 👇
