Chapter 6 - The Dead Woman’s Enemy
Emily had been nineteen when her mother died.
She remembered rain.
A highway.
A police officer speaking softly on the porch.
She remembered Raymond taking the phone from her hand.
She remembered the funeral.
She did not remember Martin Vale.
“What did Mom testify about?”
Raymond looked toward the door.
“Not here.”
Emily’s temper finally snapped.
“Stop protecting me with silence.”
Everyone froze.
She lowered her voice.
“I’m thirty-four years old.”
Raymond looked ashamed.
“I know.”
“I have a child inside me.”
“I know.”
“My husband married me knowing about a trust I didn’t know I controlled.”
Raymond said nothing.
“So no more deciding what I can handle.”
He nodded.
“Your mother discovered that Martin Vale was bribing executives to steer hospital construction contracts toward companies he controlled.”
“How?”
“She was chief financial officer of Saint Claire Health.”
Emily blinked.
She had known her mother worked in hospital finance.
She had never understood how powerful she had been.
“She testified before a federal grand jury.”
“What happened to Vale?”
“Convicted on fraud and bribery charges.”
“And Mom?”
Raymond’s eyes darkened.
“Her car went off Interstate 71 three weeks later.”
Emily felt the room tilt.
“They said it was an accident.”
“That was the official conclusion.”
“The official conclusion?”
“We never proved otherwise.”
Emily stared at Preston.
“What does he have to do with this?”
Raymond looked at the photograph again.
“I don’t know.”
Preston laughed bitterly.
“You know more than you’re saying.”
Raymond turned.
“Then explain it.”
Preston said nothing.
Emily leaned forward.
“Why were you meeting Martin Vale?”
“He approached my father.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“What did he want?”
“Access.”
“To what?”
“The hospital redevelopment portfolio.”
Raymond’s face changed.
“You let him near Saint Claire projects?”
“No.”
Preston rubbed his face.
“Not at first.”
Emily felt cold.
“At first?”
Preston looked at her.
“Whitmore Health has been bleeding money for years.”
“You told me profits were growing.”
“Our public numbers were growing.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means my father buried losses.”
Raymond muttered, “Charles.”
Preston kept talking.
“Vale offered capital.”
“In exchange for my hospital?”
“No.”
“In exchange for what?”
Preston’s eyes moved toward the floor.
“Control over three construction contracts.”
Raymond exploded.
“Those contracts are worth nearly half a billion dollars.”
“I know.”
“And you used Emily’s trust as collateral?”
“I was trying to fix it before anyone found out.”
Emily stared at him.
Her husband had built their marriage exactly the way he apparently built his business.
One lie covering another.
Then another.
Until everything required more lies just to remain standing.
“Why eighty million by midnight?”
Preston’s face hardened.
“Because Vale advanced money.”
“How much?”
“One hundred and twenty.”
Raymond’s eyes widened.
“You took one hundred and twenty million dollars from him?”
“Not personally.”
“Then where is it?”
Preston didn’t answer.
Vanessa did.
“Gone.”
Everyone turned.
She looked sick.
“Preston told me an investment failed.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed.
“What investment?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Something called Northstar.”
Samantha immediately searched her files.
“Northstar Maternal Systems?”
Dr. Bennett looked up sharply.
“That’s the fetal monitoring company we rejected last year.”
“Why?” Emily asked.
The doctor’s face became serious.
“Because the device had unexplained data failures.”
Samantha turned the laptop.
“Whitmore Capital invested ninety-four million dollars anyway.”
Emily looked at Preston.
“You gambled hospital money on rejected medical equipment?”
“It wasn’t rejected everywhere.”
Dr. Bennett’s voice sharpened.
“It failed safety review here.”
A nurse rushed into the room.
“Dr. Bennett.”
Everyone turned.
The nurse’s face was pale.
“We just received a call from neonatal ICU.”
“What happened?”
“They found Northstar hardware installed in six monitors.”
Dr. Bennett stood abruptly.
“That’s impossible.”
The nurse shook her head.
“They were installed overnight.”
Raymond’s expression went deadly.
“Who authorized it?”
The nurse handed him a printed order.
At the bottom was an executive approval signature.
PRESTON WHITMORE.
Then another nurse ran in behind her.
“Doctor, one of the monitors just stopped transmitting.”
Dr. Bennett bolted for the door.
Emily’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“Is there a baby connected to it?”
The nurse looked at her.
May you like
“Yes.”
And then the emergency alarm began screaming through the hospital.
