Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Lived Three Days
The first official breakthrough came from a nurse named Evelyn Hart.
She had worked at a private medical clinic forty miles from Lake Greenwood.
The clinic closed three years ago.
Ruiz found her through archived employment records.
When Evelyn saw Laura’s photograph, she became pale.
“I remember her.”
I forgot how to breathe.
“She was alive?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn said Laura arrived unconscious the morning after the motel recording.
A man claimed she was his sister and said she had been injured in a private boating accident.
That man was Peter Shaw.
Laura had no identification.
No insurance information.
Peter paid cash.
“When did she wake up?”
“The second day.”
“What did she say?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“She kept asking for Daniel.”
I looked away.
“She said she had two children.”
Evelyn continued.
“She said people were trying to kill her.”
“Did you call police?”
“I tried.”
Peter was standing outside the nurses’ station when Evelyn reached for the phone.
He told her Laura was suffering from a head injury and paranoia.
Then Grant arrived with legal papers claiming Laura required private psychiatric supervision.
Peter’s law firm had prepared them.
Evelyn knew something was wrong.
She secretly wrote down the license plate of the medical transport that collected Laura on the third night.
“Where did they take her?”
“I don’t know.”
Ruiz tracked the plate.
The transport company no longer existed.
But its owner did.
His name was Richard Vale.
Police found him that evening.
He remembered the trip.
He had been paid ten thousand dollars in cash.
The woman was conscious when he picked her up.
“She kept saying her husband didn’t know she was alive.”
I leaned forward.
“Where did you take her?”
Richard hesitated.
Then answered.
“Back to Lake Greenwood.”
“The lodge?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“A private house on the northern shore.”
“Who owned it?”
Richard looked at Ruiz.
“The lawyer.”
Peter Shaw.
Before we could ask another question, my phone vibrated.
An email had arrived from Laura’s old address.
There was no subject.
May you like
Only one sentence.
Stop searching, Daniel, or your children will lose another parent.
