Chapter 9 - The Hospital Went Dark for Thirty-Seven SecondsEmergency lights came on almost immediately.
Red.
Dim.
Alarms sounded.
Emily screamed Daniel’s name.
“I’m here.”
He grabbed her hand.
Margaret stood.
Security officers entered.
“Everyone stay inside.”
The darkness lasted thirty-seven seconds.
Long enough.
When full power returned, nothing obvious had happened.
No gunfire.
No intruder.
No missing patient.
But Detective Monroe didn’t relax.
“Lock the floor.”
A nurse checked Emily’s monitoring equipment.
Baby stable.
Daniel stable.
Everyone breathed.
Then Margaret looked toward the hallway.
“Where’s my phone?”
Police had placed it on a side table after reviewing messages.
Gone.
Monroe’s face changed.
“Who entered during the outage?”
Two nurses.
Three officers.
A maintenance employee.
Everyone identified.
Then a security camera revealed something.
A man wearing hospital maintenance clothing entered the stairwell during the blackout.
He never came out.
Police searched.
Uniform found.
No man.
Daniel whispered:
“Michael.”
Emily shook her head.
“He wouldn’t come himself.”
Margaret disagreed.
“You don’t know him.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Apparently neither do you.”
The hospital moved Emily to another secured unit under police protection.
Daniel was advised to leave.
Emily refused.
“No.”
Monroe explained:
“If the threat is specifically against him, separating you reduces risk.”
Emily gripped Daniel’s hand.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“She’s right.”
“Don’t.”
“Emily.”
“You leave and I’ll think every phone call means you’re dead.”
Daniel stopped.
That mattered.
He stayed.
Margaret was ordered out.
She resisted.
Emily surprised everyone.
“Let her stay nearby.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
Emily looked at Margaret.
“Because Michael is using her too.”
Margaret flinched.
Emily continued.
“That does not make her innocent.”
Margaret nodded.
“But she may know something.”
Monroe agreed.
Hours passed.
Adrian called again.
This time police traced him to a motel near Riverside.
They arrested him without resistance.
Emily refused to see him.
Daniel did.
The interview was recorded.
Adrian looked exhausted.
Thin.
Nothing like the confident man Emily remembered.
Daniel sat across from him.
“You touched my wife’s fertility treatment.”
Adrian looked down.
“Yes.”
“Why should I not spend the rest of my life destroying yours?”
“You probably will.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Good.”
Adrian explained.
Michael contacted him two years earlier.
He knew about Emily.
He knew Adrian’s obsession.
He offered a way to “correct” the past.
Documents suggested Daniel had a genetic condition.
Suggested Emily had privately agreed to donor substitution.
Suggested Adrian could become donor anonymously.
All forged.
Adrian should have verified.
He didn’t.
Because he wanted to believe.
The same weakness Michael exploited in Margaret.
He gave people the lie they most wanted.
Margaret wanted Emily gone.
Adrian wanted Emily back.
Both accepted impossible stories because those stories justified what they already desired.
Daniel asked:
“Why did Michael choose your clinic?”
“He didn’t.”
“What?”
“I was already there.”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“Michael found me because of Emily.”
“So he had been watching us.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Years.”
Daniel felt cold.
“Why?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Your father.”
“What about him?”
“Charles knew Michael was alive.”
“We know.”
“No.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“He didn’t just know.”
“He was working with him.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“Michael claimed Charles built the succession trust for him.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Michael said your father regretted choosing you.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Adrian continued.
“He said the child would restore what should have been Michael’s.”
Daniel stood.
“This is garbage.”
“Maybe.”
Adrian looked at him.
“But there are recordings.”
“Where?”
“Michael has them.”
Daniel walked out.
He couldn’t breathe.
Emily saw him return.
“What happened?”
He told her.
Margaret listened.
Then said:
“It’s possible.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“Your father never stopped loving Michael.”
“That doesn’t mean he’d help him steal my child.”
“No.”
Margaret’s voice softened.
“But Charles regretted cutting him out.”
Daniel stared.
“You knew Dad thought Michael was alive?”
“I suspected.”
“You let me mourn him.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Emily almost laughed.
“There it is again.”
Everyone looked at her.
The family phrase.
Protect.
Meaning lie.
Control.
Hide.
Margaret looked ashamed.
Then Monroe entered.
“We found your missing phone.”
“Where?”
“In the maternity supply room.”
“What was done with it?”
“One outgoing call.”
Margaret frowned.
“To who?”
Monroe turned the screen.
Daniel’s face drained.
The call lasted twenty-one seconds.
Destination:
CHARLES WHITMORE FOUNDATION OFFICE.
Daniel whispered:
“My father has been dead five years.”
May you like
Monroe nodded.
“Someone answered.”
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