Chapter 2 - The Hospital Room Was Empty Before Our Car Reached the Entrance
The ambulance smelled of antiseptic and wet wool.
Dr. Reyes sat beside me.
Every bump sent pain through my shoulder.
Damon followed in a separate car.
I kept calling my mother.
Every call went to voicemail.
At Saint Vincent's, a nurse met us outside.
Her badge read Evelyn Price.
"Your mother was transferred," she said.
"Transferred where?"
Evelyn looked at the security guards.
"The paperwork says private rehabilitation."
"She can't even walk without oxygen."
Evelyn's fingers tightened around her clipboard.
"I know. I objected."
We entered my mother's room.
Her slippers remained beneath the bed.
Her glasses lay on the bedside table.
A half-finished crossword rested on her blanket.
My stomach turned.
My mother never went anywhere without those glasses.
Damon asked for the transfer order.
Evelyn brought us a printed form.
The signature at the bottom looked like mine.
It wasn't.
"Someone forged this," I said.
Damon studied the ink.
"Who authorized it?"
Evelyn pointed to a physician's identification number.
"Dr. Adrian Vale."
Matteo called from the hallway.
"Vale resigned yesterday."
I looked toward the empty bed.
For years, I had measured my life in hospital bills.
Now money was the smallest problem.
Evelyn quietly passed me a folded receipt.
"I found this beneath her pillow."
On the back, my mother had written four words.
DON'T TRUST THE BLUE BIRD.
I thought of Preston's companion.
The silver pin.
Damon read the message and went still.
"That symbol," he said, "belongs to my father's company."
I stared at him.
May you like
"Your father is dead."
"Yes," Damon said. "That's the problem."
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