Chapter 15 - PATRICIA'S SECRET
Patricia was waiting at Second Door when Andrew arrived.
She looked at his face.
Then at Natalie.
And immediately knew.
“My father told you.”
Andrew stopped.
“You knew.”
Patricia nodded.
“For years.”
Andrew could barely believe it.
“You stood outside my house filming Ashley.”
Tears filled Patricia's eyes.
“Yes.”
“You turned my worst night into entertainment.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my wife had investigated your father?”
“No.”
Andrew slammed Leah's notebook onto the desk.
“Stop lying!”
Patricia flinched.
Ashley stood in the doorway behind Thomas.
Andrew saw her.
Lowered his voice.
Patricia whispered:
“I knew Leah.”
Silence.
“How?”
“She saved my daughter.”
Andrew froze.
“Your daughter?”
Patricia reached into her purse.
She removed a photograph.
A little girl.
Dark curls.
Bright smile.
“Her name was Sophie.”
Andrew stared.
“I've never seen her.”
“Nobody here has.”
“Why?”
“Because my father made sure of it.”
Patricia sat.
“When Sophie was five, she developed an autoimmune kidney disease.”
Andrew's anger softened into dread.
“My father put her into his program.”
“Your own daughter?”
“I didn't know what it was.”
Patricia cried.
“I thought my father was saving her.”
“What happened?”
“Sophie got worse.”
Leah discovered irregularities.
Rebecca helped her.
Together they removed Sophie from Vale's care.
“She lived?”
Patricia nodded.
“She lives with her father in Michigan.”
Andrew frowned.
“You don't see her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Patricia looked down.
“Because when I learned what my father had done, I agreed to testify.”
“That sounds like the right thing.”
“I backed out.”
Andrew understood.
“My father threatened Sophie. Said if I testified, he would ruin her father's career, take our insurance, expose private medical records.”
“So you stayed quiet.”
“Yes.”
“And Leah?”
“She didn't.”
Patricia wiped her face.
“She told me silence would create another Emily.”
Andrew looked toward the window.
“And then Leah died.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Yet you never told me.”
Patricia's voice broke.
“I was a coward.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Ashley walked forward.
Andrew wanted to stop her.
He didn't.
Ashley looked at Patricia.
“Did my mommy hate you?”
Patricia covered her mouth.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the last thing she said to me was that scared people can still make brave choices later.”
Ashley considered this.
“Did you?”
Patricia cried harder.
“Eventually.”
Ashley nodded.
“Good.”
Adults complicated forgiveness.
Children sometimes didn't.
But Andrew wasn't finished.
“Who sent the box?”
Patricia shook her head.
“Not me.”
“Who knew about Emily?”
“Several people.”
“Who knew about the mitten?”
Patricia froze.
Andrew noticed.
“You know the mitten.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“It belonged to Emily.”
“We know.”
“No.”
Patricia shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
She took the mitten.
Turned it over.
Inside the cuff were embroidered initials.
E.C.
Then beneath them:
S.C.
Andrew frowned.
“Samuel Carter?”
“No.”
Patricia whispered:
“Sarah Carter.”
“Who is Sarah?”
“Emily's older sister.”
Andrew stared.
“She had a sister?”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Twenty-two now.”
Natalie immediately searched.
No current address.
No employment record.
Nothing obvious.
Patricia continued.
“Sarah blamed everyone.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
“Charles?”
“Yes.”
“Leah?”
Patricia hesitated.
“At first.”
Andrew looked at the anonymous notes.
Everybody cried for Andrew Parker.
Nobody cried for Emily.
“Sarah sent the box.”
Natalie wasn't convinced.
“Maybe.”
Andrew looked at Patricia.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Then Ashley spoke.
“I do.”
Every adult turned.
Andrew stared.
“What?”
Ashley held up her tablet.
“A lady messaged Second Door.”
Andrew's heart stopped.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Ashley!”
“I answer messages sometimes.”
“You absolutely do not answer strangers!”
“I know that now.”
Andrew took the tablet.
The message was from an account named SECONDCHANCE214.
One line.
Ask Ashley if Buddy still remembers the train station.
Andrew felt cold.
Sarah knew about the key.
Which meant Sarah had placed it inside Buddy.
But how?
Andrew scrolled.
Another message had just arrived.
You found Dad's monster.
Now find the people who helped him.
There were photographs attached.
Doctors.
Administrators.
Lawyers.
Charles.
Then one final photograph.
Andrew stared.
Rebecca.
The caption beneath her:
SHE SIGNED THE PAPER THAT KILLED EMILY.
Andrew looked across the room.
Rebecca stood near the doorway.
She had been discharged hours earlier.
Bandage on her forehead.
Her face collapsed when she saw the image.
“She's right.”
Andrew walked toward her.
“What did you sign?”
Rebecca began shaking.
“The medication authorization.”
“You said you didn't know.”
“I didn't.”
“But your signature is there.”
“Yes.”
Andrew struggled with anger.
Rebecca whispered:
“I've lived with that every day.”
“Why didn't you tell Samuel?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“After Leah died.”
“And?”
“He told me to stay away from his family.”
Andrew understood.
Sarah Carter had grown up believing Rebecca helped kill her sister.
And technically—
she had.
Even if unknowingly.
Natalie looked at the tablet.
“We need to find Sarah before she does something worse.”
Andrew nodded.
Then Patricia's phone rang.
She answered.
No one spoke.
Her face drained of color.
“What?”
She put the call on speaker.
A young woman's voice.
“Hello, Patricia.”
Patricia whispered:
“Sarah?”
“Tell Andrew I'm sorry about the window.”
Andrew stepped closer.
“Sarah.”
Silence.
Then:
“You found the notebook.”
“Yes.”
“You found Vale.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Where are you?”
She laughed softly.
“That's not important.”
“It is to me.”
“Why?”
“Because Emily mattered.”
Silence.
Andrew continued.
“She mattered even though I never knew her.”
Sarah's breathing changed.
“My sister died alone.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Her voice cracked.
“You got the miracle. Everybody gave Ashley money and kidneys and cupcakes and news stories. My father got a hospital bill and a dead six-year-old.”
Andrew closed his eyes.
She wasn't wrong about the unfairness.
But grief had turned into something dangerous.
“Sarah, what do you want?”
“I want every person who helped Vale exposed.”
“We can do that legally.”
Rebecca whispered:
“We find another legal door.”
Sarah heard.
Her voice hardened.
“Rebecca.”
Rebecca stepped toward the phone.
“Sarah.”
“You remember me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember Emily screaming?”
Rebecca began crying.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
The line disconnected.
Then every computer inside Second Door went black.
One by one.
Screens flickered.
Documents appeared.
Confidential medical records.
Names.
Children.
Eleven patients.
Andrew stared.
Sarah had hacked the center.
A countdown appeared.
00:59:59.
Natalie swore.
“What happens in an hour?”
Text appeared.
IN 60 MINUTES, EVERY RECORD GOES PUBLIC.
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
Andrew looked at her.
“These are victims. Their medical histories.”
“If she publishes them, those families get violated all over again.”
Andrew stared at the countdown.
Sarah thought she was exposing monsters.
But she was about to hurt the very families she wanted justice for.
Andrew grabbed the phone.
“Find her.”
Natalie nodded.
Then Ashley said quietly:
“Daddy?”
“What?”
“There's another message.”
Andrew looked.
Only Ashley's tablet had remained online.
Sarah had sent her one sentence.
You were alone for four days.
Emily was alone forever.
Tell your father he has 59 minutes to choose which little girl matters more.
Andrew looked at his daughter.
And something inside him changed.
“No.”
Natalie frowned.
“What?”
Andrew stared at the countdown.
“I’m not choosing.”
May you like
He picked up Leah's blue notebook.
“I'm saving both.”
