Chapter 8 - Evelyn Vale
Damian read the words until they blurred.
SHE IS ALIVE.
His first thought was impossible.
His second was worse.
“What if it means my mother?”
Grant did not answer.
Tessa did.
“Then we find out.”
They searched Voss’s room first. The blood on the wall was his, but the amount was small. He had written the message himself before escaping or being taken.
Under the mattress, Grant found a plastic hospital bracelet.
EVELYN VALE.
Date of admission: three weeks after the date on her death certificate.
Damian stared at it.
“That can’t be real.”
Beatrice touched the bracelet and began crying.
“I knew it.”
“You knew what?”
“I knew they moved her.”
“Where?”
“Rosewood.”
Damian’s voice turned dangerous. “You told me you didn’t know what happened to her.”
“I didn’t know if she survived.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I. I was twelve.”
Beatrice covered her face.
Tessa stepped between them again, but this time she did not defend Beatrice.
“Damian. The bracelet.”
He looked down.
There was a barcode.
Grant scanned it into an archival database.
A hidden patient number appeared: R17-001.
Damian’s pulse hammered.
R-17 was not a file category.
It was his mother’s patient code.
He opened the encrypted archive again and entered the number.
A video loaded.
The timestamp was twenty-eight years old.
Evelyn Vale appeared on-screen in a hospital gown, thinner than Damian remembered, but alive.
A younger Voss stood beside her.
Someone behind the camera asked, “Do you consent to continued treatment?”
Evelyn looked directly into the lens.
“No.”
The voice asked again.
“Mrs. Vale, do you consent?”
“No.”
A man stepped partly into frame.
Adrian.
He leaned close to Evelyn and whispered something the microphone barely caught.
Damian increased the volume.
“If you fight us, Damian loses everything.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Then she said, “I consent.”
Tessa turned away in horror.
The video ended.
A second file appeared beneath it.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION - 1998.
Destination: St. Agnes Long-Term Care, Vermont.
Status: ACTIVE.
Damian stared at the final word.
Active.
Not deceased.
Not discharged.
Active.
Grant checked the facility name.
His face changed.
“Damian... St. Agnes still exists.”
Damian was already reaching for his coat.
May you like
Then Beatrice whispered from behind him.
“If Evelyn is alive, Adrian will kill her before you get there.”
