Chapter 8: The Man Waiting Outside
Ethan arrived at Mercy General at 1:38 p.m.
He didn't enter through the emergency department.
Instead, he parked his black SUV beside the hospital's service entrance and walked toward the staff elevators, carrying a bouquet of white roses.
It was the kind of gesture he had used throughout his marriage to Emily.
A bouquet after an argument.
An expensive necklace after an insult.
An apology followed by another demand.
He understood that gifts could distract people from the damage underneath.
But I had seen my daughter's wrists.
Flowers weren't going to change that.
Dana's team had already secured the hospital's restricted corridors. Two uniformed officers remained outside Emily's room, while another pair monitored the entrances.
I stood near the nurses' station when Marcus approached.
“Ethan's vehicle has been located. He's on the premises.””
“Has he been detained?””
“Not yet. We need to establish probable cause for the immediate arrest and coordinate with the investigators handling the estate.””
I frowned.
“He assaulted my daughter.””
“Her injuries are documented, but we need her statement and corroborating evidence. We're working on the relevant warrants.””
I understood the need for procedure. I also understood how easily people like Ethan exploited every minute they were given.
“Then keep him away from her.””
Marcus nodded.
“We will.””
A hospital security officer appeared at the end of the corridor.
“Colonel Hart? There's a man requesting to see his wife. He says he's here to apologize.””
“Where is he?””
“Outside the main lobby.””
I walked with the officer toward the entrance, stopping several yards from the glass doors.
Ethan stood beneath the awning, holding the roses.
When he saw me, he smiled.
“Colonel. I'm glad you're here.””
“Leave.””
His smile faltered.
“I came to see Emily.””
“She doesn't want to see you.””
“You don't speak for her.””
“No. But she has explicitly told me she doesn't want you near her.””
He glanced at the security officer.
“This is a private family matter.””
I stepped closer.
“My daughter is an adult. Her injuries are documented. There is an active investigation into what happened to her. This is no longer a private family matter.””
Ethan lowered the roses.
“You've filled her head with nonsense.””
“Your mother said the same thing about the bruises.””
His face hardened.
“Emily has always been emotional. She gets frightened, imagines things, and then convinces herself they're real.””
I studied him.
“Is that what you told Claire Bennett?””
For the first time, his expression changed completely.
The bouquet slipped slightly in his hand.
“Who told you that name?””
“Does it matter?””
He looked toward the hospital doors.
“You need to understand something, Colonel. People have spent years trying to destroy my family. They always end up regretting it.””
“Is that a threat?””
“It's a warning.””
I turned to the security officer.
“Please document this conversation.””
Ethan laughed.
“You think writing things down will save you?””
“No,” I said.
“Evidence will.””
He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“You don't know what Emily found. You don't know what she's done. That card belongs to me.””
“Why?””
“Because it contains private family records.””
“Does it contain footage of your first wife?””
He went completely still.
Then he looked at me with a hatred so intense that, for one brief moment, the polished businessman disappeared.
I saw the man Emily had described.
The man who punished questions.
The man who believed fear was the same thing as obedience.
“You should have stayed out of this,” he said.
A voice behind us interrupted him.
“Ethan Prescott?””
Two federal investigators approached from the lobby.
“I'm Special Agent Brooks. We need to ask you some questions concerning an ongoing investigation.””
Ethan straightened his jacket.
“Of course. My attorney will be happy to arrange a meeting.””
“This isn't a request for a meeting. We need you to accompany us while we execute a lawful investigative order.””
He looked at me.
“You did this.””
“No,” I replied.
“You did.””
For a moment, I thought he would resist.
Instead, he placed the roses on a nearby bench and followed the investigators toward a private interview room.
But as he passed me, he leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
“Ask your daughter what happened to the original file.””
I watched him disappear through the doors.
The same words had appeared on the envelope delivered to Emily.
And I knew, with absolute certainty, that the Prescotts were still hiding something.
At 2:15 p.m., Dana called me into a secure consultation room.
A technician had recovered a portion of the encrypted video Richard provided. The footage showed Ethan entering the guesthouse carrying a black case.
Margaret followed several minutes later.
The recording had no sound for the first thirty seconds.
Then the audio returned.
Margaret's voice was clear.
“You promised me she wouldn't be a problem.””
Ethan set the case on a table.
“She found the documents. What did you expect me to do?””
“Make sure she can't use them.””
“I told you I would handle it.””
“You said the same thing about Rachel.””
Ethan slammed his hand against the table.
“Rachel was your mistake, not mine.””
Margaret slapped him.
The sound echoed through the room.
“You ungrateful little fool. Everything you have exists because I protected you.””
Ethan stared at her.
“You protected yourself.””
Margaret stepped toward him.
“Do you want the police to discover what happened in the guesthouse? Do you want them to find the records of every woman who came through that property?””
He said nothing.
“Then do what I tell you.””
The footage ended.
Dana paused the recording.
“We have enough to justify a much broader inquiry into the Prescott Foundation's finances and activities. But we still need to establish what happened to Claire and Rachel.””
“What about the original file?”” I asked.
“Richard's copy appears incomplete. Emily may have preserved the full recording somewhere else.””
I called my daughter.
She answered immediately.
“Mom?””
“Ethan is being questioned. We need to talk about the file you sent his father.””
She was silent.
Then she said, “I didn't send him the whole video.””
“Why not?””
“Because I found something at the end of it.””
“What?””
“A second recording. It wasn't part of the Claire folder. It was hidden in a file with a different date.””
“Did you watch it?””
“Only the first few seconds.””
“What did you see?””
Emily's voice began to shake.
“Ethan was standing in front of a camera. He was talking to someone off-screen. He said, ‘If anything happens to me, my mother will make sure the truth dies with her.’”
Dana leaned toward the phone.
“Emily, can you recover that recording?””
“I think so. I used a cloud account Ethan doesn't know about.””
“Can you access it from the hospital?””
“Yes.””
Dana signaled for the technician to prepare a secure device.
Emily opened the account while we waited.
Her hands trembled as she entered the password.
Then her expression changed.
“Mom?””
“What is it?””
“The file is gone.””
“Gone?””
“Someone deleted it.””
Dana moved closer.
“Can you see when?””
Emily read the timestamp.
The deletion had occurred less than five minutes earlier.
I looked at Dana.
“Ethan is in custody.””
She nodded slowly.
“Then someone else has access to his systems.””
The technician examined the account logs.
“There's an active session from a device registered to Prescott Development Group.””
Dana immediately called Marcus.
“Secure the company's servers. Preserve the access logs. Nobody deletes anything else.””
She ended the call and turned toward Emily.
“Did you share the account with anyone?””
“No.””
“Did you write the password down?””
Emily hesitated.
Then she whispered, “Ethan knows my old passwords.””
I felt a cold wave of dread.
“Why would he still know them?””
“Because he made me give them to him when we got married. He said married couples shouldn't keep secrets.””
Dana's expression hardened.
“Emily, I need you to think carefully. Did he ever use your account to communicate with someone else?””
Emily stared at the blank screen.
Then she nodded.
“Once. I found a message in my sent folder that I hadn't written.””
“What did it say?””
Emily closed her eyes.
“It was an invitation.””
“To whom?””
She looked at Dana.
“To Claire Bennett.””
The room fell silent.
Emily opened the account history again and searched the archived messages.
There it was.
A message sent from her account six weeks earlier.
I know what happened to you. Meet me at the old guesthouse. Come alone.
The recipient had replied with four words.
I never left, Emily.
Dana read the message twice.
Then her phone rang.
She answered, listened for several seconds, and slowly lowered it.
“Colonel Hart,” she said, “the estate team has found a vehicle abandoned near the old service road.””
“Whose vehicle?””
“Registered to Claire Bennett.””
My heart began pounding.
“Is she inside?””
“No.””
Dana looked at the message on the screen.
“But there's a fresh footprint beside the driver's door. Someone was there recently.””
She turned toward the investigators.
“Get the search team moving.””
Then she looked at me.
“Victoria, if Claire really has been living nearby all these years, someone may have just discovered where she's hiding.””
And before we could leave the room, a nurse rushed through the door.
“Agent Brooks! There's been an incident downstairs.””
May you like
“What kind of incident?””
“The patient registered as Rachel Morgan has disappeared.””
