Chapter 14 - The Wrong Uniform
The woman smiled too quickly.
“Ms. Vale? I’m here to escort Leni downstairs.”
Mara moved in front of the bed. “Show me your badge.”
The woman touched the plastic card clipped to her collar.
“It’s right here.”
“Take it off.”
The woman’s smile disappeared.
Detective Bell stepped into the room. “Hands where I can see them.”
The woman reached for her pocket.
Bell shouted, “Don’t!”
The woman stopped.
Officer Ruiz arrived seconds later and removed the badge. It was a convincing imitation, but the photograph belonged to a real nurse who had been working in another building.
The woman gave her name as Nessa Cole.
Leni began to shake.
Nessa looked at her. “I never meant to scare you.”
“You came to the pantry,” Leni said.
Nessa’s expression collapsed. “I know.”
Bell took her into custody.
The room remained silent after the door shut.
Mara held Leni until the trembling stopped.
“How did she get in?” Mara asked.
Ruiz checked the badge system. “Someone inside authorized a temporary visitor pass.”
“Who?”
The answer came from the computer logs.
June Vale.
Mara stared at the screen. “She’s in custody.”
“The pass was created yesterday.”
“Then someone used her account.”
Bell looked at Cal. “Who has access to BrightPath’s systems?”
“Grant. Nessa. Mom.”
“Anyone else?”
Cal’s mouth tightened. “Me.”
Mara turned. “You?”
“I used to do bookkeeping for Grant.”
“How long have you been lying to us?”
“Since before Leni’s first treatment.”
He pulled a notebook from his jacket. “Grant hired me to move money between accounts. I quit when I realized the care claims were fake. But I kept the passwords.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought I could use them against him.”
Bell took the notebook. “Did you authorize Nessa’s pass?”
“No.”
“Did you access the clinic portal?”
“No.”
Mara looked at Leni. “Who else knows your grandmother’s password?”
Leni hesitated.
“Nessa?”
“No.”
“Grant?”
“No.”
“Mom?”
Leni shook her head.
“Then who?”
Leni pointed to the black screen where Daniel’s video had been.
“The man who came with Grandma to the house.”
Mara felt a chill. “Grant?”
“No. Another man.”
“What did he look like?”
Leni closed her eyes. “He had your face.”
Cal turned pale.
“That’s impossible,” he said.
Leni opened her eyes. “He said his name was Mateo.”
Mara’s breath caught.
Mateo was her father’s younger brother. The family had said he died before Mara was born.
Bell searched the records.
“Mateo Vale is alive,” she said.
May you like
The man everyone had mourned was living under another name.
And he had just tried to take Leni.
