CHAPTER 3 — THE HOSPITAL OF MISSING MEMORIES
CHAPTER 3 — THE HOSPITAL OF MISSING MEMORIES
Massachusetts General Hospital was placed under quiet lockdown within minutes of Natalie's arrival.
Not because she was famous.
Because someone had ordered it.
Richard stood outside the emergency department, his suit stained from kneeling beside the ambulance stretcher. His hands still shook from hearing those two whispered words.
"She lied."
Arthur Bennett watched nurses rush in and out.
"Someone is trying to control who gets near her."
Richard looked toward the security desk.
"Who authorized that?"
Arthur had already begun making calls.
"That's what I'm about to find out."
Inside a private examination room, Natalie slowly regained consciousness.
Bright lights.
White ceiling.
The steady rhythm of a heart monitor.
None of it felt familiar.
But the photograph lying on the bedside table did.
The little girl on a man's shoulders...
Why did looking at it hurt so much?
A nurse smiled gently.
"Good afternoon, Miss Collins."
Natalie frowned.
"...Collins?"
The name suddenly sounded foreign.
Before she could ask another question, the door opened.
Eleanor Collins entered carrying flowers.
Her smile was warm.
Too warm.
"You frightened me."
Natalie forced a weak smile.
"I'm sorry."
Eleanor sat beside the bed.
"You became overwhelmed by strangers."
"The man..."
Richard's face flashed across Natalie's mind.
His tears.
His voice.
"You called me every Friday."
A sharp pain stabbed behind her eyes.
Eleanor immediately noticed.
"Don't think about him."
"But why did he know so much about me?"
"Because dangerous people study wealthy families."
Natalie looked uncertain.
"He knew my bracelet."
"He probably saw photographs online."
"My scar."
"Lucky guess."
"My favorite..."
Eleanor interrupted before she could finish.
"You've had another memory episode."
She reached into her purse.
"Your medication."
Natalie hesitated.
"I don't remember taking medicine today."
"You forgot."
Again.
Forgot.
Everything always seemed to come back to forgetting.
She swallowed the pills.
Within minutes, the heaviness returned.
Her thoughts became fog.
Outside the room, Arthur quietly watched through the narrow glass window.
He had seen Eleanor hand Natalie the medication.
"Richard."
"What?"
"We need to know what she's giving her."
Arthur contacted an old friend on the hospital board.
Ten minutes later, a young pharmacist quietly approached them.
"I can't stay long."
Arthur showed him a photograph of the pill.
The pharmacist's expression changed.
"That's strange."
"What is it?"
"Those aren't memory medications."
Richard's heartbeat quickened.
"What are they?"
"They're powerful sedatives."
Silence.
"They suppress emotional responses and impair short-term memory."
Richard's face turned white.
"You mean..."
"If someone wanted a patient confused..."
The pharmacist looked around nervously.
"...this is exactly what they would prescribe."
Richard exploded.
He marched toward Natalie's room.
Security immediately stepped in.
"Sir, you can't enter."
"She's being drugged!"
"Please calm down."
"I am her father!"
The hallway fell silent.
Doctors looked up from their charts.
Patients stared.
Eleanor calmly walked out of the room.
"Richard."
"You've been poisoning her."
Her expression never changed.
"What an outrageous accusation."
Arthur stepped beside Richard.
"We've already photographed the medication."
For the first time...
Eleanor's confidence cracked.
Only for a second.
But Richard saw it.
At that exact moment, Mark Whitman landed in Boston.
His mother had called him six times during the flight.
One message waited on his phone.
Destroy everything connected to Pacific Coast Highway. Today.
Mark reread the sentence.
Destroy everything?
His stomach tightened.
He had always believed Natalie died in the accident.
So why destroy evidence?
Instead of going to the hospital...
Mark drove to Whitman Technologies' East Coast archives.
Only senior executives possessed access.
As CFO, he opened every security lock without question.
Deep inside the digital records room, he searched one date.
October 14.
The day Natalie supposedly died.
A folder appeared.
PROJECT PHOENIX
His eyebrows furrowed.
He clicked.
Access Denied.
Director Authorization Required.
Strange.
He was the Chief Financial Officer.
There should have been nothing above his clearance.
Someone had hidden the file.
Someone inside his own family.
Back in Beverly Hills...
Smoke drifted through Linda's private office.
Most of Natalie's hospital records had already turned to ash.
But one photograph refused to burn completely.
Linda picked it up.
It showed a damaged SUV hanging over a cliff.
The driver's door was open.
There was blood inside.
But no body.
Linda stared at the picture for several long seconds.
Then quietly whispered,
"You should have disappeared forever."
A voice behind her answered.
"Who should have?"
Linda spun around.
May you like
Their longtime housekeeper, Rosa, stood frozen in the doorway.
The old woman had heard everything.
