CHAPTER 4: THE HUNT BEGINS
CHAPTER 4: THE HUNT BEGINS
At 2:17 a.m., the hospital lost power for exactly four seconds.
Emergency generators activated almost instantly.
But four seconds was enough.
When the lights returned...
The maintenance technician lay dead beside his locker.
The envelope of cash was gone.
So was the burner phone.
Only a single brass shell casing remained on the floor.
Dominic received the call less than a minute later.
His expression didn't change.
"Take me there."
Claire happened to be walking toward the nurses' station when Dominic and six armed guards rushed past.
She frowned.
"What happened?"
No one answered.
Curiosity pulled her after them.
The maintenance corridor had already been sealed.
Police officers were arriving.
Hospital executives looked ready to faint.
Detective Marcus Hale ducked beneath the crime-scene tape.
One look at the body told him everything.
"Professional."
Single shot.
Center forehead.
No hesitation.
No struggle.
Whoever had done this hadn't come to scare anyone.
They had come to erase someone.
Marcus noticed Dominic standing nearby.
"So..."
the detective said quietly,
"Your family's bad luck just became my homicide."
Dominic's expression remained cold.
"This wasn't bad luck."
Marcus looked at him.
"It was an execution."
Meanwhile...
Claire couldn't stop staring at the dead technician.
Something bothered her.
Not the body.
His hands.
His fingernails.
There was blue paint trapped beneath one thumbnail.
Fresh paint.
Hospital maintenance uniforms didn't use blue paint.
She crouched instinctively.
Detective Hale noticed.
"What are you looking at?"
Claire pointed.
"He painted something tonight."
The detective frowned.
"Maintenance records say he repaired electrical panels."
Claire slowly shook her head.
"Electrical paint is red for danger markings."
"This..."
She looked closer.
"...is medical-grade identification paint."
Hale's eyes narrowed.
"What does that mean?"
Claire's heartbeat quickened.
"It means he wasn't fixing wires."
"He was marking equipment."
At that exact moment, one of the forensic officers walked over.
"Detective."
"We found something inside his locker."
Everyone turned.
The officer held up a folded inventory sheet.
Every item listed belonged to the neonatal intensive care unit.
Ventilator tubing.
IV connectors.
Feeding lines.
Catheters.
One line had been circled repeatedly in blue ink.
Reserve Shipment – Delivered 5:42 p.m.
Claire felt her stomach drop.
"It wasn't random."
Hale looked at her.
"What wasn't?"
"The equipment."
She swallowed.
"Someone knew exactly which shipment Leonardo would receive."
A chilling silence settled over the hallway.
This had never been an accident.
It had never been contaminated supplies.
Someone had deliberately switched the equipment before the baby was born.
Someone inside St. Anne's Hospital had helped them.
And if one employee had already been murdered to keep the secret...
There was every reason to believe the killer wasn't finished.
Claire suddenly realized something horrifying.
She had identified the poisoned equipment.
She had saved Leonardo.
Which meant there was now one witness who knew too much.
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And somewhere inside the hospital...
Someone was already coming for her.
