Chapter 2 - The Name on the Death Certificate
Dr. Ruth Calder operated out of a private medical suite hidden behind an old rehabilitation clinic.
At 4:02 a.m., she emerged from surgery.
Emmett stood immediately.
“Is she alive?”
Ruth removed her gloves.
“Yes.”
Sully exhaled.
Emmett didn’t.
“When can she talk?”
Ruth stared at him.
“She was shot, lost a dangerous amount of blood, and nearly died.”
“I heard you.”
“Apparently you didn’t.”
“When?”
“Several hours. Maybe tomorrow.”
Emmett stepped closer.
“Ruth.”
“No.”
It was one of the few words people rarely used with Emmett.
Ruth had known him since childhood.
She used it frequently.
“You will not interrogate my patient.”
“She came looking for me.”
“Then she can explain why after she wakes up.”
Emmett finally backed away.
At 10:17 that morning, Sully entered carrying Faye’s belongings.
“Found something.”
He placed a small flash drive on the table.
It had been taped beneath the lining of Faye’s shoe.
Emmett looked at it.
“Computer.”
Minutes later, a password screen appeared.
Sully frowned.
“Any ideas?”
“Bed twelve.”
Nothing.
“Maeve?”
Nothing.
Emmett thought about Faye.
About the hospital.
About his mother.
Then he typed:
PALMUP.
The drive opened.
Sully stared.
“Jesus.”
There were hundreds of documents.
Patient charts.
Medication records.
Internal emails.
Financial transfers.
And a folder titled:
M. KAVANAUGH — ORIGINAL
Emmett opened it.
Maeve Kavanaugh’s official death certificate listed complications from advanced pancreatic cancer.
The original medical chart told a different story.
A medication had been administered six hours before Maeve’s death.
One that had never appeared on the final record.
Sully leaned closer.
“Who ordered that?”
Emmett read the physician’s name.
Dr. Nathan Vale.
Sully swore quietly.
Vale was Ashgrove Memorial’s chief medical officer.
Then they found another name.
The authorization for the medication change had been entered using Faye Corbin’s credentials.
Emmett stared at the screen.
“She didn’t do this.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if she did, she wouldn’t have been driving through the rain trying to tell me.”
A weak voice came from the doorway.
“Correct.”
Both men turned.
Faye stood there in hospital clothing, one hand holding the doorframe.
Ruth was behind her, furious.
“I told her to stay in bed.”
Faye answered, “You also left the door unlocked.”
Ruth looked at Emmett.
“She’s your problem for five minutes.”
Then she walked away.
Emmett approached Faye.
“You should sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“You nearly died.”
“That doesn’t make the chair less ugly.”
Sully laughed.
Emmett didn’t.
“Vale used your credentials.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To hide what he was doing.”
“To my mother?”
Faye’s expression changed.
“Not just your mother.”
Silence filled the room.
“How many?”
“I found twenty-three suspicious deaths.”
Sully whispered, “Twenty-three?”
“Terminal patients. Elderly patients. People whose deaths wouldn’t trigger questions.”
Emmett’s eyes hardened.
“And my mother?”
Faye shook her head.
“She was different.”
“How?”
“Someone specifically requested hers.”
Emmett became completely still.
“Requested?”
Faye looked directly at him.
“Your mother wasn’t just another patient.”
She took a breath against the pain.
May you like
“Someone paid Vale to make sure Maeve Kavanaugh never left Ashgrove.”
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