Chapter 5 - THE FLOOR WITHOUT A NAME
Raymond refused to let Emily leave the maternity unit.
She refused to remain uninformed.
They compromised.
Emily stayed in bed while a live security feed displayed the search below.
Police and hospital officers entered the research level.
The corridor lights activated one section at a time.
Dust covered the floor.
Plastic sheets hung over abandoned doors.
Old signs had been removed.
Only faded outlines remained on the walls.
One room still carried a number.
M-7.
The security team opened it.
Inside were modern computers.
The room was not abandoned.
Someone had been using it recently.
A refrigerator held blood samples labeled with patient numbers.
A cabinet contained prenatal records.
Several belonged to women currently receiving care at the hospital.
Emily’s name appeared on one file.
Her folder contained ultrasound images.
Genetic test results.
Medication lists.
And a photograph taken through the window of her bedroom.
Someone had been watching her at home.
Raymond’s face hardened.
“Seal the room.”
A detective opened a desk drawer.
Inside were documents carrying Malcolm’s signature.
The papers described a private study involving high-risk pregnancies.
The research had no ethics approval.
No patient consent forms were attached.
The study examined the inheritance of a rare blood disorder.
Emily’s mother had carried the same condition.
Emily had inherited it.
So had her unborn son.
That was why Preston moved her records.
He had not only been hiding an affair.
He had delivered his wife’s medical information to an illegal research program.
A sound came from the live feed.
Three knocks.
Then silence.
The officers followed the noise to a storage room.
Natalie Brooks lay on the floor with her wrists tied.
She was alive.
A bruise covered her forehead.
When paramedics lifted her, she whispered one sentence.
“Do not let Malcolm near Emily’s baby.”
The feed went silent as officers cleared the room.
Emily looked at Raymond.
“What was he planning?”
Raymond sat beside her.
“Your mother’s condition was considered medically valuable.”
“Valuable to whom?”
“To Whitmore Biotech.”
Emily knew the name.
Preston served as its executive vice president.
The company claimed to develop treatments for rare maternal disorders.
Its public research record was small.
Its private investors were enormous.
Raymond continued.
“Your mother participated in an early study.”
“She withdrew consent when she became pregnant.”
“Malcolm continued monitoring her anyway.”
“Did that cause her death?”
“We never proved it.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“You let him remain here.”
“I believed closing the program ended it.”
“You kept his name on the building.”
“I was protecting the hospital.”
“No.”
Emily looked toward the glowing fetal monitor.
“You were protecting the appearance of the hospital.”
The words struck Raymond deeply.
He lowered his head.
“You are right.”
Before Emily could respond, an alarm sounded.
The computer system on the research level began deleting files.
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Someone was erasing the study remotely.
The access point came from Preston’s security room.
