Chapter 6: The Cousin
Elena was at the door before it opened.
She pulled it inward herself, stepping into the gap, a fresh set of folded towels in her arms as though she had been on her way out.
"Mr.
Vance is resting," she said.
"The doctor left specific instructions — no visitors after ten without nursing staff present."
Anthony filled the doorway.
He was broader than me, two years younger, with our grandfather's jaw and none of our grandfather's patience.
The man beside him I didn't recognize — heavy-set, quiet, standing slightly behind Anthony's right shoulder in the way that meant he wasn't a friend.
"I'm family," Anthony said.
"Yes, sir.
I'll let the night nurse know you'd like to come in.
She'll need to be present." Elena's voice was perfectly neutral.
"She's just finishing with the patient in 412.
It shouldn't be more than ten minutes."
Anthony looked past her at my bed.
I was still.
Eyes closed.
Hands at my sides.
"He looks the same," the man behind Anthony said.
"He is the same," Elena said.
"No change today."
Anthony's gaze moved back to her.
A long, flat look — the kind designed to remind someone of their position.
"You're the cleaning woman."
"Yes, sir."
"You're here late."
"I cover the evening shift on Thursdays, sir.
I was just finishing up."
A pause.
Anthony's hand came off the door frame.
"Ten minutes," he said.
"Tell the nurse."
"Of course, sir."
She stepped back and let the door close.
I heard their footsteps move down the corridor toward the nurses' station.
I opened my eyes.
Elena set the towels down on the chair and crossed to me in four steps.
"The man with him," I said quietly.
"I've seen him before.
He was here Tuesday.
He's the one I told you about — the visitor badge in the wrong place."
"Did you get a clear look at him tonight?"
"Yes." She paused.
"He had a lanyard under his jacket.
I saw the edge of it when he turned.
It looked like a hospital administration badge, not a visitor pass."
Someone inside the hospital.
Someone with access.
"They're not waiting until Friday morning," I said.
Elena understood immediately.
"They were going to come back tonight.
After the nurse clears them in."
"Call Marcus." I held out the phone.
"Tell him I need someone in this building in the next thirty minutes.
Tell him the room number and tell him to use the service entrance."
She was already dialing.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed for the first time in five days.
The floor was cold through the hospital socks.
My ribs pulled sharply when I straightened, but I stayed upright.
I was done lying down.
Marcus arrived in twenty-two minutes with two men I trusted and a change of clothes.
He took one look at me standing beside the window and said nothing about the fact that I was gripping the IV stand to stay balanced.
"The man with Anthony," I said.
"Gray temples, administration lanyard, wrong badge placement."
Marcus pulled out his phone and turned the screen toward me.
"His name is Dr.
Carl Reiss," Marcus said.
"He's on the hospital's board of directors.
He's also listed as a private investor in one of Anthony's shell companies — the second layer, not the outer one.
I found it this morning."
I looked at the photo.
The man from the doorway.
"He has access to patient records," Marcus said.
"Medication orders.
He could alter a chart.
He could authorize a dosage change without a treating physician's signature if he framed it as an administrative review."
The room felt very still.
"They weren't going to wait for me to d*e," I said.
"They were going to help it along."
"Tonight," Marcus said.
"I think it was going to be tonight."
I looked at the bed I had just climbed out of.
The white pillow.
May you like
The monitors still running.
"Then let's give them something to find," I said.
