Chapter 6 - The Camera Inside the Room
Daniel’s hospital floor was locked down again.
No one had entered his room according to the officer outside.
No nurse.
No doctor.
No visitor.
Yet the photograph was clearly recent.
Brooks examined it.
“Look at the monitor.”
Claire enlarged the image.
The clock on Daniel’s monitor read 1:52 a.m.
Sixteen minutes before the message.
“How?”
Brooks’s eyes moved around the photograph.
Then she saw the angle.
“This wasn’t taken by a person standing beside him.”
“What?”
“It came from above.”
Hospital maintenance removed a smoke detector from the ceiling.
Inside was a wireless camera.
Ryan did not need someone in Daniel’s room.
He could watch him anytime.
The camera had been installed before Daniel arrived.
That fact terrified Brooks most.
Someone knew Daniel would be transferred to St. Catherine.
Someone with access to his care plan.
They began investigating hospital staff.
At 8:30 that morning Daniel woke and learned what had happened.
His response surprised Claire.
He did not panic.
He became calm.
Very calm.
“Ryan knows where Claire and Madison are?”
“No.”
Brooks shook her head.
“The message reached Claire’s personal phone.”
“That number is private.”
“Someone had it.”
“Ryan does.”
“So do thirty other people.”
Daniel stared at the ceiling.
“Then stop looking at who hates me.”
Brooks frowned.
“What?”
“Look at who knows us.”
He was right.
Claire made a list.
Family.
Close friends.
Daniel’s executive assistant.
Their attorney.
Madison’s school.
The housekeeper.
Claire’s sister.
Daniel’s mother.
Their pastor.
The list felt unbearable.
Every name carried a memory.
Christmas dinner.
Birthdays.
Hospital visits.
People who had hugged Claire at the funeral.
Someone on that list might have known Daniel was alive while standing beside his coffin.
Brooks investigated them quietly.
The first surprising name was Peter Sloan.
Daniel’s longtime attorney.
Peter had prepared the Mercer family trust.
He had also handled Daniel’s estate after the declared death.
And less than three hours after Daniel was pronounced dead, Peter had filed emergency paperwork transferring voting authority to Ryan.
Daniel stared at the record.
“That’s incredibly fast.”
Claire nodded.
“Did Peter know about Harbor Point?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know you and Ryan were fighting?”
“Yes.”
Brooks asked, “Did you trust him?”
Daniel gave a bitter laugh.
“He was my godfather.”
Peter Sloan had held Madison the day she was born.
He had delivered food after Daniel’s father died.
He had spoken at Daniel’s funeral.
Someone we trust.
Daniel’s handwritten warning returned to Claire’s mind.
Police brought Peter in for questioning.
He denied everything.
“I filed the trust transfer because that is my legal obligation.”
“Within three hours?”
“The company had active contracts.”
“Ryan asked you to?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Daniel was investigating Ryan?”
“No.”
“Did you know Dr. Vale?”
“No.”
“Blackwood Quarry?”
“No.”
“Did you forge Claire Mercer’s signature on the funeral authorization?”
Peter’s face finally shifted.
“No.”
Brooks placed the document in front of him.
“Your office printer identification code is embedded in the scan.”
Peter stared.
Modern printers leave microscopic tracking information.
He had not known.
Brooks leaned forward.
“Try again.”
Peter’s shoulders dropped.
“I printed the form.”
“Who signed it?”
Silence.
“Peter.”
He looked at the mirrored wall.
“I want my attorney.”
Brooks smiled without warmth.
“You are an attorney.”
“I want another one.”
That afternoon, federal agents searched Peter’s office.
They found burner phones.
Financial transfers.
Documents related to Harbor Point.
But Peter was gone.
He had walked out of the police station before probable cause was sufficient to hold him.
His car was later discovered at BWI Airport.
He had not boarded a flight.
The trail vanished.
At the safe apartment, Madison sat at the table drawing again.
Claire was talking quietly with Brooks when the child interrupted.
“Mom.”
“One second.”
“Mom.”
Claire turned.
“What?”
Madison held up a picture.
Three stick figures.
Her family.
A fourth figure stood behind them.
Tall.
Thin.
No face.
“Who’s that?”
“Mr. Peter.”
Claire’s blood chilled.
“Why did you draw him?”
“He came to my school.”
Brooks crossed the room.
“When?”
Madison thought.
“Before Daddy’s accident.”
“How long before?”
“Two sleeps.”
Two days.
“What did he want?”
“He brought Daddy something.”
Brooks crouched.
“What?”
“A folder.”
“Did he give it to your dad?”
Madison shook her head.
“Daddy wasn’t there.”
“Then who?”
“Me.”
Claire stared.
“Peter gave you a folder?”
“He said it was a surprise.”
“What did you do with it?”
“Put it in Daddy’s office.”
Daniel’s home office had been searched after the break-in.
No folder had been recovered.
“What color?”
“Red.”
“Did it have words?”
Madison nodded.
“A bird.”
Brooks glanced at Claire.
“What kind of bird?”
Madison pointed to the tattoo sketch police had shown her earlier.
“The same one.”
The man who tried to tamper with Daniel’s IV had a bird tattoo.
Peter’s mysterious folder had the same symbol.
Brooks contacted the station.
Thirty minutes later they identified it.
Not a bird.
A falcon.
The logo belonged to Falcon Ridge Security.
A private security company.
Mercer Development had hired Falcon Ridge for several construction sites.
Its owner was a former Baltimore police officer named Victor Kane.
Brooks pulled up his photograph.
Madison recoiled.
“That’s him.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“The man at the hospital?”
Madison nodded rapidly.
“That’s him.”
Victor Kane had walked into Daniel’s ICU wearing stolen scrubs.
He had also worked directly for Ryan for nearly five years.
Brooks picked up her phone.
Before she could make the call, Daniel’s hospital television interrupted with breaking news.
Police had located Peter Sloan.
His body had been pulled from the Patapsco River.
He was dead.
And once again, a note had been left behind.
This one said:
May you like
I DID IT ALL.
RYAN MERCER KNEW NOTHING.
