Chapter 10 - The Room Below the Stairs
"Which clinic?" Mara asked.
"Harbor Recovery," Caleb said. "Victor's company owns it."
"Then call the police," June said.
"I did. The front desk says Paige checked herself out. She didn't. Her wheelchair is still there."
Nina Alvarez met them outside the clinic with a uniformed officer. She didn't care that the building carried the Voss name. She showed the receptionist her badge and asked to see Paige's discharge paperwork.
"Our administrator handles those requests," the receptionist said.
"Then get your administrator."
They found Paige in a treatment room near the basement therapy gym. She was pale, furious, and very much in charge of her own mind.
"I didn't disappear," she snapped when Caleb rushed toward her. "I hid. Somebody searched my room and took my laptop."
Her wheelchair stood beside the bed. Mara recognized the stubborn set of her jaw. It was the same look Owen used to get when somebody tried to help him with a task he'd already figured out.
"What files?" Nina asked.
Paige took a flash drive from inside a paperback novel. "I used to work in the clinic's accounting office before my accident. A friend sent me invoices after I started asking questions about the foundation. They billed the city for brake repairs on the shuttle that killed those people."
"Repairs that never happened," Mara said.
"Right. And the money went to Westwater Holdings."
Nina's eyes sharpened. "That's a shell company under investigation for contract fraud."
Paige scrolled through a spreadsheet on June's laptop. Westwater had also billed for repairs to the eastern guardrail. Those repairs were dated before the crash, but the city had closed the road for actual guardrail work two weeks afterward.
"They paid themselves to pretend the bus and the road were safe," Teresa whispered.
An administrator arrived with two guards. Nina stepped into the doorway and announced that Paige was free to leave, and that the clinic's records were being preserved for a criminal investigation. The administrator's smile froze.
Outside, Caleb helped Paige into an accessible taxi. For the first time since the gala, he looked relieved.
Then Paige checked her email. The relief disappeared.
May you like
"They've canceled my therapy coverage," she said. "Effective immediately."
At the bottom of the notice was Celeste Voss's electronic signature.
