Chapter 6 - Traces of Betrayal
The tension in St. Catherine's was reaching a boiling point. By midnight, the hospital had been placed under partial quarantine, with uniformed police officers stationed at every exit.
Noah's condition was slowly improving. The ventilator had been removed, replaced with a small nasal cannula providing light oxygen. He was still unconscious, but his heart rate had stabilized, and the brain wave monitors showed no permanent damage from the seizure. I sat beside his crib, stroking his wispy blond hair, silently praying for his blue eyes to open.
At 2:00 a.m., Detective Vance requested Daniel and me to the security station on the first floor.
"We got a hit on the DNA from the glove found in the pharmacy," Vance announced, pointing to a computer screen displaying a mugshot and employment file. "The DNA didn't belong to the pharmacist or the night nurse."
I leaned in to look at the screen. "Who is it?"
"Gregory Vance—the maintenance worker," the detective revealed. "He has a prior criminal record for petty theft and fraud. More importantly, we pulled his bank records under an emergency warrant. Three days ago, an offshore account linked to a shell company owned by Richard Miller transferred fifty thousand dollars into Gregory’s account."
"So Richard bought a hospital worker to murder his own daughter," Daniel said, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. "And Gregory made a mistake."
"He didn't make a mistake," I suddenly realized, the pieces falling into place in my mind. "It wasn't an accident that Noah got that bottle."
Detective Vance looked at me sharply. "What do you mean, Mrs. Bennett?"
"Think about it!" I insisted, stepping closer to the board. "If Sophie died from an overdose of her own prescription medication, an autopsy would show high levels of Levetiracetam. It would look like Elena mismanaged the dosage or made a fatal error, giving Richard full custody of the trust fund and the child's estate. BUT if Sophie died suddenly without any drug in her system, people would investigate murder!"
"Go on," Vance encouraged.
"Gregory was hired to poison Sophie's bottle," I explained rapidly. "But Gregory got nervous or confused during the security camera loop at 3:00 a.m. He printed Noah’s label to cover up Sophie’s name, intending to put the poisoned bottle in Sophie's tray and take Noah's safe bottle away! But in the dark, under pressure, he swapped the stickers on the WRONG bottles! He put the poisoned bottle into NOAH'S cart!"
"Which means," Vance finished the thought, his eyes widening, "the untainted, completely normal formula bottle went to Sophie... and the lethal dose went to Noah!"
"And that means," Daniel gasped, "the real target, Sophie Miller, is still in danger! Richard knows his plan failed!"
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Just as the words left Daniel's mouth, the emergency alarms throughout St. Catherine's Children's Hospital began to blare in a terrifying, rhythmic pulse.
Code Red. Pediatric ICU. Code Red.
