Chapter 6 - Unraveling the Web
"Stop chest compressions! Clamp the IV line immediately!" Claire shouted, leaping forward to disconnect the deadly potassium infusion from Mara’s central line. "Flush the line with normal saline! Get three ampules of sodium bicarbonate and ten units of regular insulin with fifty percent dextrose, NOW!"
Nurse Brenda rapidly executed the orders while Claire checked Mara’s femoral pulse.
"Pulse is returning—it's weak, sixty beats per minute," Claire breathed, wiping her brow. "The potassium didn't all make it into her bloodstream. We caught it in time!"
Detective Marcus Kane drew his service weapon and sprinted out through the swinging emergency exit doors, his boots echoing down the concrete stairwell.
"Hospital security! Lock down the building!" Marcus roared into his radio as he descended the stairs three at a time. "Suspect is in the building! Female, five-foot-eight, dark trench coat, blonde hair! Lock all perimeter doors!"
The alarm sirens began to wail throughout Lakewood Memorial Hospital. Emergency lights flashed red along the white corridors.
In the basement maintenance tunnels beneath the hospital, Tessa Vance moved quickly through the dark, damp corridors. She had discarded her damp trench coat in a laundry chute, revealing dark medical scrubs she had stolen from an unlocked locker room on the third floor.
She clutched a heavy leather tote bag tightly against her side. Inside was a syringe case, forged medical IDs, and a laptop containing the modified financial records of the Carter family trust.
Tessa’s breath came in ragged, desperate hitches. How were they surviving? Mara should have died in her sleep three hours ago. The baby should have been stillborn. And now, the doctor in the ER had questioned the prescription, identified the digoxin, and saved the child.
If Mara woke up, she would tell the police that Tessa had brought the yellow pills. She would tell them that Tessa had insisted she take them.
Tessa reached the service exit leading out to the subterranean parking garage. She pushed against the panic bar.
CLICK.
The heavy steel door didn't move. The hospital’s automated lockdown system had engaged, locking all magnetic doors from the inside.
"Damn it!" Tessa cursed, kicking the metal door.
She turned around—and froze.
At the far end of the long, dimly lit tunnel stood Detective Marcus Kane, his gun raised and aimed directly at her chest. Behind him stood two armed hospital security officers.
"Drop the bag, Tessa," Marcus said, his voice hard as iron. "It's over."
Tessa backed away slowly until her spine hit the cold, concrete wall. Her hands shook violently.
"You don't understand," Tessa stammered, her voice cracking with hysterics. "Mara was weak! David was weak! They didn't deserve that money! David built that company with my money, and then he left me out of the partnership! That two million dollars belonged to me!"
"You tampered with the scaffolding on David's job site two years ago, didn't you?" Marcus asked, taking three slow steps forward, his eyes locked on her. "And when you realized Mara was pregnant again, you realized the trust money would be locked away for another twenty years."
"He was going to audit the trust!" Tessa shrieked, tears of rage spilling down her face. "David left an old ledger in his safety deposit box! Mara found it last week! She was going to give it to her lawyer on Monday! I had no choice!"
"There's always a choice, Tessa," Marcus said calmly. "Put your hands on your head and get down on your knees. Now."
Tessa looked around wildly, realizing there was no escape route, no hidden hallway, and no second chance. With a bitter scream of fury, she dropped her leather bag onto the dusty concrete and fell to her knees.
The security officers rushed forward, forcing her arms behind her back and clicking heavy steel handcuffs around her wrists.
Marcus stepped forward, picked up the dropped tote bag, and unzipped it. Inside lay the original prescription bottle of white Nifedipine tablets that she had taken from Mara’s house, along with the forged doctor’s prescription pads bearing Dr. Nathan Vale's stolen credentials.
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Marcus looked down at the woman who had tried to wipe out an entire family for greed.
"Tessa Vance, you are under arrest for attempted murder, murder in the first degree, child endangerment, and forgery," Marcus said coldly. "You have the right to remain silent..."
