Chapter 4 - THE SIX-YEAR-OLD BOY THEY TRIED TO USE
“Richard has my son's school information,” Rachel whispered. “He knows where Ethan goes every morning.”
Gabriel took the phone from her trembling hands.
He read the forged permission form.
Then he read it again.
“Did you give anyone in this house permission to access Ethan's school records?”
“No.”
“Did Isabella ever ask about his school?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Last month. She said she was arranging employee benefits for families with children.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Did you fill out paperwork?”
“Yes. It asked for emergency contacts, medical conditions, and school information.”
Rachel's voice broke.
“I thought she was helping.”
Gabriel called Daniel.
“Find out who submitted this form. And have someone check on Rachel's son immediately.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Ethan is with my aunt. He's safe.”
“I intend to keep him that way.”
Gabriel handed back her phone.
“Call Nora. Tell her Ethan stays home from school tomorrow until we speak with the principal.”
Rachel obeyed.
When Nora answered, Ethan was awake.
“Mommy?” he asked sleepily.
Rachel nearly cried.
“Hi, sweetheart. Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Aunt Nora made pancakes for tomorrow.”
Rachel smiled despite everything.
“That's good.”
“Are you coming home?”
“Yes, baby. Very soon.”
“Don't forget my blue dinosaur.”
Rachel looked at the little plastic dinosaur keychain attached to her handbag.
“Never.”
After she hung up, Gabriel stood beside her.
“Rachel, I'm sorry.”
She looked confused.
“For what?”
“My family brought this into your son's life.”
“You didn't forge that paper.”
“But Richard believes he can hurt people working for me without consequences.”
Gabriel looked toward his father's bedroom.
“That ends now.”
By seven the following morning, Rachel had met privately with Ethan's principal.
Daniel accompanied her, carrying copies of the suspicious paperwork.
The principal examined the form with obvious concern.
“Our system shows it was submitted through an administrative email address yesterday evening,” she explained.
“Who approved it?” Rachel asked.
“A staff member processed it based on the attached authorization.”
“But I never signed it.”
The principal immediately removed Richard from the pickup list and placed an additional safety restriction on Ethan's file.
No one except Rachel and Aunt Nora could collect him.
The school would verify their identities directly.
Rachel exhaled.
For the first time since midnight, she could breathe properly.
Then the principal turned the document around.
“There's something else you should see.”
At the bottom of the submitted form was an employee identification number.
Rachel recognized it.
“That belongs to the Caruso household payroll office.”
Daniel photographed the page.
Richard hadn't obtained Ethan's information through the school.
He'd used the family business.
When Rachel returned to the mansion, Gabriel was waiting.
He had already ordered a review of personnel records and access permissions.
The result was worse than either expected.
Richard's office had accessed Rachel's employee file four times in the previous week.
It had also requested copies of Thomas's medication schedule.
And three days earlier, someone using Isabella's administrative credentials had downloaded Thomas's original power-of-attorney documents.
Gabriel set the report on his desk.
“They're looking for more than medical records.”
Rachel sat across from him.
“What else could they want?”
“My father established a family trust years ago. Michael and I were supposed to share oversight of certain properties.”
“The warehouse?”
“Among others.”
Gabriel stared at the report.
“After Michael died, Richard persuaded Dad to let Isabella manage the financial paperwork. Dad trusted her.”
“And now?”
“Now Richard wants a physician to declare Dad incapable of reversing those decisions.”
Rachel remembered the canceled memory assessments.
“He's trying to make sure your father can't speak for himself.”
Gabriel nodded.
“And if Dad can't challenge the paperwork, Richard may be able to transfer the remaining properties before we discover what's wrong.”
There was a quiet knock at the study door.
Thomas entered with his walker.
He had dressed himself carefully.
His tie was crooked.
Rachel stood to help him, but Thomas smiled.
“I can manage, dear.”
She returned the smile.
“Of course you can.”
Gabriel pulled out a chair.
“Dad, we need to talk about your medical care.”
Thomas's expression changed.
“Not Fairview.”
“No. Never again without your agreement.”
“Isabella said I couldn't live anywhere else.”
“She was wrong.”
Gabriel explained the forged records and the canceled appointments.
Thomas listened quietly.
Then he asked something that made Gabriel pause.
“Do you think I'm losing my mind?”
Gabriel took his father's hand.
“I think you've been frightened and isolated. But we need a doctor you choose to examine you properly.”
Thomas looked toward Rachel.
“Will you come with me?”
Rachel nodded.
“Absolutely.”
That afternoon, an independent geriatric specialist evaluated Thomas at the mansion.
The examination lasted nearly two hours.
Thomas occasionally struggled to remember dates.
He became frustrated when asked to repeat several words.
But he recognized every family member, understood his finances, explained his medical preferences, and accurately described the events surrounding his recent care.
When the physician finished, she spoke directly to him.
“Mr. Caruso, you have some age-related memory difficulties. We should continue monitoring them. But I see no basis today to assume you cannot make your own decisions.”
Thomas stared at her.
“Then I can decide where I live?”
“Yes.”
“And whom I want to see?”
“Of course.”
His eyes filled with tears.
For months, Isabella had told him he was too confused to make those choices.
Now someone had finally asked him what he wanted.
“I want to stay with Gabriel,” he whispered.
Gabriel placed an arm around him.
“Then that's where you'll stay.”
The doctor documented her findings.
Gabriel arranged for an independent attorney specializing in elder care to review Thomas's documents, with Thomas choosing the attorney himself.
But the good news didn't last.
That evening, Daniel delivered another discovery.
“The hospital photograph wasn't taken by a staff member,” he said.
Gabriel looked up.
“How do you know?”
“Evelyn identified the camera. It belonged to the clinic administrator. He photographed unusual admissions for insurance purposes.”
“Can we find him?”
“He died six years ago. But his daughter retained several contact sheets and business records from the clinic.”
Gabriel sat forward.
“Did she find anything?”
Daniel placed a scanned contact sheet on the desk.
It contained six photographs from the night Michael was admitted.
The first showed Michael on the medical bed.
The second showed Thomas signing paperwork.
The third showed Richard speaking to a physician.
The fourth was partially damaged.
The fifth showed Evelyn standing beside a supply cabinet.
But the sixth photograph made Gabriel forget to breathe.
A young woman stood outside Michael's treatment room.
She wore a cream coat and held a black handbag.
Her face was clearly visible.
Isabella.
Twelve years younger.
Gabriel stared at the image.
“She told me she didn't know how badly he was hurt.”
Daniel said nothing.
Gabriel enlarged the photograph.
His sister wasn't simply standing outside the room.
She was holding a folded white paper against her chest.
Something had been written across it.
Three words were visible.
TRANSFER NOT APPROVED.
Rachel leaned forward.
“That sounds like someone refused to move Michael.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
But the next detail troubled him more.
In the photograph, Isabella was crying.
Her hand was pressed against the treatment-room door.
She looked as though she was begging someone inside.
Gabriel turned to Daniel.
“Can we find out what that paper was?”
“Evelyn says the clinic used that form when a patient requested a transfer that an authorized decision-maker refused.”
Gabriel felt his chest tighten.
“Who made the decision?”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“We haven't found the complete form.”
Rachel stared at Isabella's face.
A terrible possibility entered her mind.
Maybe Isabella hadn't come to the clinic to hurt Michael.
Maybe she'd gone there to save him.
But before she could speak, Gabriel noticed something in the sixth photograph.
The treatment-room door was slightly open.
Through the opening, Michael's face was visible.
He was looking directly at his sister.
And his right hand was raised.
Not in greeting.
He was pointing toward the paper she held.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Then he said quietly, “Daniel, find Isabella.”
Rachel looked at him.
“What are you going to ask her?”
May you like
Gabriel opened his eyes.
“I'm going to ask why my brother begged for a hospital while my sister stood outside holding the paper that kept him there.”
