Chapter 6 - The Service Elevator
The blue folder was in Lauren’s car.
Police retrieved it from the parking garage while Lauren sat under guard in my room.
Inside were copies of my prenatal records, Ethan’s insurance information, a photograph of all three bassinets taken less than an hour after delivery, and a cashier’s check for forty thousand dollars payable to M. Vale Consulting.
The check came from Diane’s personal account.
There was also a handwritten list.
Baby A - Ava.
Baby B - Lily.
Baby C - Rose.
Next to Rose’s name, someone had written: EASIEST. NO DISTINCTIVE FACE MARK.
I almost threw up.
Caleb had noticed the birthmark behind Rose’s ear. Diane and Marissa had apparently missed it.
Detective Ortiz closed the folder.
“Room 712 is in the old surgical wing.”
The administrator frowned.
“That floor is under renovation.”
“Cameras?”
“Only at the elevators.”
“Perfect place to hide.”
Lauren stood.
“I’ll go.”
Ethan stared at her.
“No.”
“They asked for me.”
“They asked for the folder.”
“And said come alone.”
Ortiz looked at Lauren carefully.
“We can wire you.”
Ethan exploded.
“This isn’t a television show. My sister is not bait.”
Lauren looked at him.
“Your daughter is missing because I was too desperate to ask one question. I’m going.”
For the first time since the alarm, Ethan had no answer.
The plan happened quickly.
Lauren wore a recording device under her sweater. Two officers took the stairwell. Ortiz and another detective used the staff elevator. Hospital security locked down every exit from the seventh floor.
I stayed in bed because there was nothing else I could do.
That helplessness was worse than pain.
Ethan stood beside the window watching the parking lot as if he could somehow see through concrete walls.
His phone carried the live audio from Lauren’s wire.
We heard her footsteps.
A door opened.
“Room 712,” she whispered.
Then knocking.
A woman’s voice answered.
“You’re late.”
Marissa.
Lauren said, “Where is the baby?”
“Folder first.”
“No.”
A pause.
“You’re developing a spine at a very inconvenient time.”
“I want to see her.”
Then we heard a newborn cry.
I stopped breathing.
“Rose,” I whispered.
Ethan grabbed my hand.
On the audio, Lauren gasped.
“Oh my God.”
Marissa said, “She’s fine. Hand me the folder.”
Lauren’s voice shook.
“Why did you switch the other baby?”
“Because your mother panicked.”
“What?”
“She was supposed to remove Rose cleanly. Your nephew woke up. We needed a decoy.”
Diane had not merely known.
She had been assigned a role.
Lauren whispered, “My mother did this?”
Marissa laughed.
“Your mother paid for this.”
Then everything changed.
A loud bang sounded through the phone.
Lauren screamed.
Ortiz shouted, “Police!”
Another bang.
The audio cut into static.
Ethan bolted for the door.
An officer blocked him.
“Sir!”
“That’s my sister and my daughter!”
Then the hospital fire alarm erupted.
Smoke began pouring from the ventilation grate above our door.
The old surgical wing was on fire.
And Rose was still inside it.
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