Chapter 5 - The Locked Hospital Wing Where I Heard My Missing Sister Calling My Name
We drove to Westhaven before sunrise.
The building had once been a private school. Its windows were boarded from inside. The front sign advertised luxury rehabilitation, but the parking lot was empty.
Lorenzo wanted me to remain in the car.
"No," I said. "She's my sister."
Naomi came with us. She knew the old security code. When it failed, she produced a key the size of a house key and unlocked a side door.
Inside, the air smelled of bleach and stale flowers.
Patient rooms stood empty. Beds had been stripped. A wheelchair lay on its side in a corridor.
I found Maya's scarf caught beneath a radiator. I recognized the loose green thread where I'd repaired it last winter.
Then I heard my name.
"Clara."
The voice came through a ventilation grille. I knelt and pressed my ear against the metal.
"Maya?"
"Don't open the red door."
Footsteps approached behind us. Lorenzo pulled me upright and led me into an equipment closet.
Through the crack, I saw Victor Sloane walking with a woman in scrubs.
"The girl was moved last night," she said. "But the older patient refused sedation."
"Then move her separately," Victor replied. "No one can see them together."
He stopped beside the red door and turned a key.
From inside came a voice older than Maya's.
"Tell my son I remember everything."
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Lorenzo gripped the shelf until his knuckles whitened.
"Mother?" he whispered.
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