Chapter 9 - The Password Opened a List of Missing Patients, Including the Man Who Had Raised Gabriel
Reyes obtained a court order.
The encrypted archive opened under supervision.
I entered the phrase myself.
Always bring them home.
Folders filled the screen.
Names.
Dates.
False death certificates.
Transfer orders.
There were hundreds.
I felt sick.
A detective began matching records.
Mara recognized several patients.
My mother identified billing codes.
Lucas explained the original software.
Every hour brought another connection.
Then Gabriel arrived with his physician.
He was still weak.
He insisted on seeing one file.
His father's.
The official record listed a fatal accident.
The hidden record showed a transfer.
“He wasn't killed that night,” Gabriel said.
“No,” Reyes replied.
“Someone moved him.”
The destination was a coastal rehabilitation center.
It had closed three years earlier.
I watched Gabriel struggle with hope.
He had spent years grieving.
Hope could hurt more than grief.
“Don't promise yourself he's alive,” I said.
Gabriel nodded.
“Come with me when they check.”
I wanted to say yes.
But my mother needed me too.
For once, I chose neither immediately.
“I'll come after she gets examined.”
He squeezed my hand.
“That's fair.”
A technician interrupted us.
The archive contained a recent login.
May you like
Someone had accessed it that morning.
From inside the police department.
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