Chapter 8 - The Car That Never Braked
Matthew left Anne's room and immediately found Maya.
"Where is the box?"
Maya pointed beneath Sarah's chair.
The battered cardboard box was exactly where it had been for most of the day.
Sarah sat beside it with Luna in her lap.
Matthew crouched.
"Sarah, I need to ask you something important."
She looked up.
"Did anyone touch your dolls while you were with your mom?"
Sarah's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"Your mom is worried somebody might have."
Sarah looked down at Luna.
"A nurse asked me about them."
Maya straightened.
"Which nurse?"
"The man nurse."
"What did he look like?"
Sarah thought.
"Blue clothes."
"Most nurses wear blue clothes."
"He had a dragon here."
She touched the inside of her wrist.
Matthew looked at Maya.
"Tattoo?"
Sarah nodded.
"He said dolls were dirty and should stay outside Mommy's room."
"Did he take any?"
"No."
Her small chin lifted.
"I told him Luna had special clearance."
Maya almost smiled before the seriousness returned.
"Do you remember his name badge?"
Sarah shook her head.
"Was he tall?"
"Yes."
"Young or old?"
"Old like him."
She pointed at Matthew.
Matthew blinked.
"I am thirty-seven."
Sarah shrugged.
"Old."
Maya covered a laugh with a cough.
Matthew did not have the energy to defend himself.
He called hospital security.
No male nurse assigned to Anne's ICU wing had a dragon tattoo.
The visitor log showed no contractor matching Sarah's description.
Detective Bell joined them ten minutes later.
"We pulled hallway footage."
"And?"
"A man in scrubs entered from a stairwell during the shift change."
"Face?"
"Mask."
"Tattoo?"
"Visible for two seconds."
Bell held up a still image on his phone.
A dark dragon curved around the man's wrist.
Sarah pointed.
"That is him."
Bell looked at Matthew.
"We are circulating the image."
"Could he be the man from the gray suit?"
"Different height."
Matthew's stomach tightened.
"So there are at least two people."
"Looks that way."
Sarah hugged Luna tighter.
"Why do they want my dolls?"
No one answered quickly enough.
Sarah looked at Matthew.
"You know."
He glanced toward Anne's room.
"Your mom thinks she may have hidden something important in one of them."
Sarah immediately looked offended.
"Without telling me?"
"Probably because she was trying to keep you safe."
Sarah looked at Luna's crooked stitches.
Then she looked at Matthew.
"Is it treasure?"
"Maybe information."
"That is not treasure."
"Sometimes it is worth more."
Detective Bell interrupted.
"Whatever is inside, do not open it here."
Sarah hugged the doll against her chest.
"Nobody is cutting Luna."
Matthew crouched beside her.
"Your mom said she put something there."
"Then Mommy can take it out."
"That sounds fair."
Bell gave Matthew an impatient look.
Matthew ignored him.
Sarah had lost enough control in one day.
The doll could wait until Anne was awake enough to decide.
Bell's phone rang.
He listened for less than thirty seconds before his expression changed.
"I have the traffic server trace."
Matthew stood.
"Where did the maintenance login originate?"
Bell looked toward Victoria.
"A Sullivan Holdings building."
Victoria went pale.
"Which building?" Matthew asked.
"The operations center on Harbor Avenue."
Nina swore softly.
"That building houses fleet services, IT support, and corporate security."
Bell nodded.
"Exactly."
"Who was logged in?"
"A service account."
"Whose?"
"Credentials were assigned to a technician who died eight months ago."
Matthew stared at him.
"Someone used a dead employee's account."
"Yes."
"Can you trace the workstation?"
"We have a warrant request moving now."
Victoria stood.
"Richard has people in that building."
Bell looked at her.
"Mrs. Sullivan, I need you to stop volunteering conclusions."
Victoria's mouth tightened.
"I am trying to help."
"Then give a formal statement."
She looked at Matthew.
"Should I?"
He almost laughed at the question.
For most of his life, Victoria Sullivan had never asked anyone what she should do.
"Tell him the truth."
She looked away.
"All of it?"
"There is no useful version left that is smaller than all of it."
Victoria nodded slowly.
Bell led her toward a private room.
Nina watched them leave.
"If your mother tells the police she helped frame Anne six years ago, she could expose herself legally."
"I know."
"She may change her mind."
"Then Bell will notice."
Nina closed the laptop.
"What are you going to do about Evan?"
Matthew looked at his phone.
"Nothing yet."
"You think his credentials issued the fake badge."
"I know they did."
"And he lied about it."
"Yes."
"Why are we not firing him?"
"Because if he is working for Richard, firing him tells Richard we know."
Nina nodded.
"So we let him think he is still inside."
"For now."
Sarah looked up from the chair.
"Inside what?"
Matthew realized she had been listening again.
"A problem."
"That is not an answer."
"A problem involving people who work for my company."
Sarah looked disappointed.
"Rich people have too many people."
Nina laughed before she could stop herself.
Matthew nodded.
"You may be right."
Late that afternoon, Dr. Kline allowed Anne to see Sarah for fifteen minutes without staff hovering directly over them.
Matthew remained outside.
Through the window, he saw Sarah place Luna beside Anne's hand.
Anne touched the doll's chest and looked immediately toward the door.
Her eyes met Matthew's through the glass.
She gave one small nod.
He understood.
When Maya brought Sarah out for dinner, Matthew entered.
Anne looked more tired than before.
"Lock the door."
"Hospital doors do not lock from inside."
"Then close it."
He did.
Anne held Luna across her lap.
"There is a seam under the dress."
Matthew moved closer.
"You want me to open it?"
"Not yet."
She looked at him.
"Tell me what police found first."
He explained the bus footage.
He explained the traffic camera shutdown.
He told her the remote login came from Sullivan Holdings.
Anne did not look surprised.
"The car never braked before it hit me."
Matthew stared at her.
"You remember?"
"Everything."
Her voice became shaky.
"I saw the driver turn the wheel toward me."
"Did you see his face?"
"No."
"Richard?"
"He was in the back seat."
Matthew felt heat rush into his face.
"You are sure?"
"I saw the ring first."
She swallowed.
"Then the window came down."
"Did he say anything?"
Anne closed her eyes.
"One sentence."
"What?"
"You should have stayed gone."
Matthew stood very still.
"You need to tell Bell."
"I will."
"Now."
"Matthew."
"He was there while someone tried to kill you."
Anne looked toward Sarah beyond the glass.
"And he still has people close enough to walk into this hospital in scrubs."
Matthew understood the fear behind her restraint.
"Then we move you to a secure floor."
"That will not fix the problem."
"It will make it harder for them to reach you."
"For one night."
Anne looked down at Luna.
"What is inside this doll can make it harder forever."
She reached beneath the faded floral dress.
Her fingers found the newer stitching.
Matthew handed her a pair of blunt medical scissors from the bedside tray.
"Are you sure?"
Anne looked at the doll Sarah had loved for years.
"I hated using Luna."
"Why did you?"
"Because Sarah never goes anywhere without her when she is scared."
The logic was terrible and brilliant.
Anne cut three stitches.
Then four.
She slipped two fingers into the opening.
Her expression changed.
"What?" Matthew asked.
Anne searched deeper.
Then she looked up at him.
"It is gone."
Matthew's blood chilled.
"What is gone?"
"The memory card."
Before he could answer, Sarah screamed from the hallway.
Matthew ran to the door.
A man in blue scrubs was sprinting toward the stairwell.
Sarah stood beside Maya, pointing after him.
"That is the dragon man!"
The stranger looked back once.
May you like
In his raised right hand was a tiny black memory card.
