Chapter 10 - THE NURSE'S SECRET
Her name was Helen Price.
Detective Hayes brought her through the side gate before the reporters noticed. Helen had cared for Margaret during the last months of her life and had resigned immediately after the funeral.
"Margaret knew her father was moving money through Callahan contracts," Helen said. "She copied the proof onto microfilm because she did not trust digital storage."
"Where is it?" I asked.
Helen looked at Lily. "Inside the music box her mother gave her."
We searched Lily's room. The silver music box sat on a high shelf, untouched since the accident. Beneath the spinning ballerina was a false panel containing three narrow film strips.
The images showed contracts, account numbers, and signatures linking Senator Vale, Owen Cole, and two Callahan board members to a construction scheme that used unsafe materials in hospitals and schools.
Grant's company had not knowingly approved the materials. The conspirators had replaced inspection reports and moved the savings into offshore accounts.
Margaret discovered the scheme and threatened to report it.
"That gave them a reason to kill her," Hayes said.
Lily touched one frame. A handwritten note appeared beside an account number: R.C. PAYMENT AFTER ROAD.
Renata Cole.
The district attorney obtained emergency warrants. Police raided Owen's offices and Senator Vale's properties.
Then Helen received a text.
A photograph showed Grant seated in a boathouse with his hands tied. Behind him stood Senator Vale.
The message said: BRING THE FILM TO SAINT JUDE'S HOSPITAL. OLD WEST WING. NO POLICE.
Saint Jude's was one of the hospitals built with the unsafe materials.
Parts of the old wing had been closed after cracks appeared in the foundation.
"They chose a building that may collapse," I said.
Hayes nodded. "And they know we cannot risk a large tactical team inside."
Lily wrote another sentence on her notepad.
DADDY IS WHERE MOMMY FOUND THE BAD WALL.
Grant had once taken Lily to Saint Jude's construction site.
May you like
She remembered a service tunnel beneath the west wing.
And she knew another way in.
