Chapter 7 - Room 314

The photograph led them to an abandoned rehabilitation hospital outside Worcester, once financed by Thomas Ashford.
"My father used it to hide people," Gabriel admitted. "Witnesses. Debtors. Sometimes people he claimed he was protecting."
Harper glared at him. "You keep discovering ugly rooms in your family history."
"I know."
Inside the ruined building, they found Room 314.
Harper's father's birthday.
Behind an old bed frame, letters were scratched into the wall:
M Q
CLAIRE - TRUST NO BADGE.
Harper touched the carving with trembling fingers.
"He was here."
In a storage room, Lena found one surviving medical file.
MICHAEL QUEEN.
Admission: gunshot wound. Patient sponsor: T. ASHFORD.
A handwritten note read:
Patient refuses to surrender evidence. Lawson becoming impatient. T.A. orders patient kept alive until drive recovered.
Harper stared at Gabriel.
"Your father did not order him killed."
"Not then," Gabriel said.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
They turned.
Leo Grant, one of Gabriel's own security men, aimed a pistol at Harper.
"Drop the file."
Gabriel's face became stone. "Leo."
The abandoned hospital contained more than Michael's file. In a locked cabinet, Lena found intake forms with false names matching missing witnesses from old Boston cases. Gabriel recognized two surnames from his father's private ledgers. He looked physically ill. Harper almost felt sorry for him, then remembered the girls on the flash drive. Thomas Ashford had apparently hidden people for many reasons: some to protect, some to pressure, some because their disappearance was convenient. Michael's room carried no chains, but the bolt had been mounted on the outside. The distinction mattered. Protection without consent was still captivity. Harper looked at Gabriel and saw that he understood the comparison.
"Sorry, boss."
Dust coated Harper's shoes as they moved through the abandoned ward. Every locked door made her imagine how many people had once waited behind it for permission to leave.
May you like
"No, you're not."
Leo smiled. "No. I'm really not.