Chapter 5: The Name Behind the Badge
Carol Meyers met us three days later in Diane's kitchen.
She was a small woman, somewhere in her late sixties, with reading glasses pushed up on her head and a canvas bag full of folders.
She shook my hand with both of hers and held it for a moment before letting go.
"I'm sorry about your daughter," she said.
"Truly."
"Thank you."
We sat at Diane's kitchen table.
Carol opened her bag and pulled out a printed sheet.
"V-A-N," she said.
"Given the hospital, the unit, and the time frame, I cross-referenced the ICU staff roster against the on-call schedule for that afternoon." She set the sheet on the table and turned it to face me.
"There was only one physician with those letters in his name working that floor that day."
I looked at the name.
Dr.
Peter Vance.
"He's not on the permanent staff," Carol said.
"He was brought in as a consulting physician six weeks before your daughter was admitted.
Contracted through a private medical staffing agency."
"Who hired him?" Diane asked.
"The hospital approved the contract.
But the referral came from outside.
A private referral." Carol paused.
"The name on the referral form is a company.
Halcyon Medical Partners."
I didn't recognize it.
"I do," said Diane.
She looked at me.
"Elena.
That's one of Daniel's companies."
The room went quiet.
Daniel.
My husband.
He hadn't just paid a doctor in a hallway.
He had arranged for that doctor to be inside the hospital weeks before Grace ever got sick.
Carol folded her hands on the table.
"There's more," she said.
"Dr.
Vance's license was under a disciplinary review in another state two years ago.
The review was closed — quietly — after a settlement.
The details are sealed, but the complaint involved a patient outcome in a pediatric unit."
My chair scraped back from the table.
I stood up.
I didn't mean to.
My legs just moved.
"Elena." Diane was beside me.
"He planned it," I said.
My voice didn't sound like mine.
"This wasn't something that happened.
He planned it.
He put that doctor inside the hospital before Grace was even sick."
"We don't have full proof yet," Carol said carefully.
"What we have is a pattern.
A strong one.
But a pattern needs to become a case."
"Then we build a case," I said.
I sat back down.
I pressed both hands flat on the table.
"What do we need?"
Carol looked at me steadily.
"The envelope.
Whatever was in it.
Bank records showing a transfer from Daniel or any of his companies to Vance, before or after that day.
And ideally, someone inside that hospital who is willing to talk."
"The nurse," I said immediately.
Diane looked at me.
"The nurse who gave me the flash drive," I said.
"She knew.
She was there.
She risked everything to get that footage to me.
She's the one who can talk."
Carol nodded slowly.
"Can you reach her?"
"I don't have her name.
But I remember her face.
And I know which floor she worked on."
"Then that's where we start," Carol said.
She reached into her bag and pulled out a business card.
She slid it across the table.
"This is the criminal attorney Diane mentioned.
His name is Robert Ashby.
He's handled medical crjme cases before.
He'll know how to protect you while the investigation moves forward."
I picked up the card.
"Does Daniel know you've been talking to anyone?" Carol asked.
"Not yet," I said.
"But he's getting suspicious.
He asked me yesterday why I had been driving so much."
Carol's expression didn't change.
But her voice dropped slightly.
"Then we need to move faster than he does."
That night, I drove home and made dinner.
I set two plates on the table.
I poured two glasses of water.
Daniel came in from the garage and kissed me on the cheek.
"Smells good," he said.
"It's just pasta," I said.
He sat down across from me and picked up his fork.
I watched his hands.
Steady.
May you like
Completely steady.
I picked up mine and started eating.
