Chapter 7: The Nurse Who Took the Secret Home
Nia read the message three times before she looked at Ethan.
“What did your mother take from the hospital?””
Ethan stood beside the window, his phone pressed against his ear. It rang four times before someone answered.
“Mom? It's me.””
A woman's voice crackled through the speaker.
“Ethan? Is everything all right?””
“Were you working at St. Catherine's Hospital on October fourteenth, six years ago?””
Silence.
Nia watched his face.
“Mom, I'm asking you a question.””
“Why?””
“Because I found your name in a medical record.””
Another pause.
Then Marissa Cole said, “Where did you get that record?””
Ethan closed his eyes.
“That's what you're worried about?””
“Ethan, listen to me. Whatever you've found, you need to stop looking.””
Nia felt her stomach tighten.
Ethan lowered the phone slightly, staring at it as though he no longer recognized the woman on the other end.
“Why?””
“Because you don't understand what happened.””
“Then explain it.””
“I can't.””
“You can. You're choosing not to.””
His mother's breathing became audible.
“Please, sweetheart. Don't contact anyone else. Don't speak to the police. Just come home, and we'll talk.””
Ethan glanced at Nia.
She shook her head.
He understood.
“I'm not coming home until you tell me what happened to Mrs. Bennett.””
The line went silent.
Then Marissa whispered, “Is her daughter with you?””
Ethan's face hardened.
“Yes.””
“Oh, God.””
“Mom, what did you do?””
“I didn't hurt that woman.””
“Then why are you afraid?””
Marissa began crying.
“I thought I was protecting you.””
The call ended.
Ethan stared at his phone.
Nia's voice was barely audible.
“Protecting you from what?””
He shook his head.
“I don't know.””
But the answer wasn't convincing, even to him.
Twenty minutes later, Detective Lena Shaw returned to the hospital room with a second officer. She listened to the recording Ethan had made of the call, then requested Marissa Cole's employment file and current address.
“Your mother is a person of interest now,” she explained.
“That doesn't mean she's guilty of anything. But we need to speak with her.””
Ethan nodded.
“Can I come?””
“If she agrees to an interview, yes. If she doesn't, we'll proceed through the appropriate legal channels.””
Nia shifted against her pillows.
“What if she runs?””
“Then we'll deal with that if it happens.””
The detective turned toward Ethan.
“Did your mother ever discuss the Bennett family with you?””
“Never.””
“Did she bring home medical records?””
“Not that I knew of.””
“Did she keep any old documents?””
Ethan hesitated.
“She kept boxes of paperwork in our basement. My father died when I was young, and she never threw much away.””
“Could there be something relevant?””
“I suppose.””
Detective Shaw wrote down the address.
“We'll arrange to search the property if we obtain the necessary authorization.””
After she left, Ethan stood motionless beside the bed.
Nia watched him struggle with something she recognized all too well: the sudden suspicion that a person you loved might have built your entire relationship on a lie.
“I should go with you,” she said.
“No.””
“Ethan—”
“You can barely turn your head without hurting yourself. You're not coming anywhere near my mother's house.””
“Your mother might know what happened to mine.””
“And if she does, I'll find out.””
Nia looked away.
She hated being told to stay behind. She hated it even more when the person saying it was right.
“Promise me you'll tell me everything,” she said.
Ethan met her gaze.
“I promise.””
That evening, Detective Shaw obtained permission to speak with Marissa at her home. Ethan went with the officers. Nia remained at the hospital, where a security guard sat outside her door.
At 8:16 p.m., Ethan sent her a message.
*We're here. She won't open the door.*
Nia called him.
“What do you mean she won't open the door?””
“She says she doesn't want to speak without a lawyer.””
“That's her right.””
“I know.””
“Then let the detective handle it.””
He sighed.
“You sound like you've known her for years.””
“I've spent three days watching people lie to my face. I'm learning.””
Despite himself, Ethan laughed once.
Then his voice grew serious.
“There's something else. My mother asked whether you still have your mother's letter.””
Nia sat up.
“The one she left me?””
“Yes.””
“What did she say about it?””
“She said your mother had written something she was never supposed to see.””
Nia gripped the phone.
“Why would my mother write to me if she didn't want anyone else to see it?””
“I don't know.””
“Ask her.””
“I will.””
The call ended.
Nia looked at the envelope lying on her bedside table. She had read her mother's letter so many times that she could almost recite it from memory.
Before you decide whether to forgive your sister, you must know that Brielle was not the first person who tried to steal from this family.
Nothing in the letter mentioned Marissa.
Nothing explained the medication.
But perhaps there was another page.
Nia reached into her coat pocket and removed the envelope. She turned it upside down, checking the seams. One corner had been folded inward, as though something had been tucked beneath the flap.
Using the blunt edge of a plastic spoon, she carefully lifted the sealed paper.
A second sheet slid onto the bed.
It was thinner than the first and covered in her mother's handwriting.
Nia's heart hammered.
The page began with a date.
*October 12 — Two days before I was told I had only hours left.*
I spoke to Arthur again tonight. He insists the transfers were made to protect our investments, but he refuses to show me the original statements.
Brielle knows more than she admits.
And Marissa has just told me something that changes everything.
Nia stopped breathing for a moment.
She read on.
She says the medication I was given does not match the treatment plan Dr. Hayes approved. She says she found a second order bearing his name, but he insists he never signed it.
Someone is using his credentials.
I asked Marissa to give me a copy of the order. She promised she would.
The next paragraph was written more hurriedly.
If anything happens to me, I want Nia to know that I never stopped fighting. Arthur believes he can keep this contained. Brielle believes she can control the outcome. They are both wrong.
Nia's hands trembled.
At the bottom of the page was a final line.
The original record is not in the hospital.
She read the sentence again.
Then she called Ethan.
He answered immediately.
“I found another page.””
“Another page of what?””
“Mom's letter. She wrote that Marissa found a second medication order, and the original record wasn't kept at the hospital.””
Ethan stopped walking.
“Are you sure?””
“I'm looking at it.””
He asked her to photograph the page and send it to him. She did.
Several seconds passed.
Then he called back.
“Nia, my mother has a locked cabinet in the basement. She told me never to open it after my father died.””
“Why?””
“She said it contained private documents from her nursing career.””
“Could the original record be there?””
“Possibly.””
“Then we need to get it.””
“I can't just break into my mother's house.””
“I'm not asking you to break in. Ask her.””
Ethan was silent.
Then he said, “The police are still outside. I'll speak to the detective.””
Before he could hang up, a new voice sounded in the background.
A woman.
Ethan's mother.
Nia heard only a few words, but they were enough to make her blood run cold.
“Tell her the record is gone,” Marissa said.
“Tell her I burned it six years ago.””
Ethan's voice rose.
“You said you never hurt that woman!””
“I didn't!””
“Then what did you burn?””
Marissa began sobbing.
May you like
And through the phone, Nia heard her say the one thing she had feared most.
“I burned the proof that someone else had killed her.””
