Chapter 10 - The Wrong Bed

Briar Glen stood behind a stone gate on twenty acres of forest. Its brochure showed gardens, fresh bread, and smiling elderly patients. At two fifteen in the morning, the windows looked like dark squares cut into a cliff.

We did not storm the gates. Simone had warned us that a spectacle would endanger Mara and give Arthur's lawyers ammunition.

Instead, Sylvia called the county's on-duty adult protective services supervisor. Simone contacted a judge authorized to hear an emergency medical-freedom application. Grant called a state investigator he'd worked with before, Sergeant Priya Desai, and sent her the evidence we could lawfully share.

I sat in the back of Grant's SUV and stared at a room on the third floor.

"Is that hers?" I asked Nora.

"Last week it was."

At two thirty-two, the county supervisor arrived with a deputy. Dr. Quill met them at the entrance, expression smooth as wet pavement.

"A family misunderstanding," he said, loud enough for us to hear from the parking area.

Simone stepped forward. "Then it should be easy to confirm your patient's identity and her wishes in private."

"Our patient cannot consent to an interview."

"Have a court declare that after an independent assessment," Simone replied.

The supervisor entered with the deputy. We waited under the security lights.

Minutes crawled by. I watched condensation cloud the windows of our SUV and wondered if Mara had watched the same road, waiting for a car that never came.

Then the supervisor returned, furious.

"The bed is empty," she said. "They claim Anna Reed was transferred at eleven fifty-eight."

"Transferred where?" Grant asked.

"The director won't say. He cites confidential medical transport."

Nora reached for the back of the seat.

"No. She was still there when I checked yesterday. My friend on the night shift said the transfer wasn't scheduled until morning."

A white medical van rolled out from behind the building. Its windows were covered, and the driver kept his face turned away. Priya, arriving in an unmarked car, immediately noted its plate.

The van accelerated toward the gate.

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Then my phone lit up with a message from an unfamiliar number.

Evan, it's Mara. Please don't let them take me across the river.