Chapter 4 - The Shadow of Elena
Detective Morales spent the afternoon at the jewelry store Lillian had mentioned.
It was an upscale boutique in downtown Chicago.
The manager remembered the transaction.
“It was a diamond pendant,” he said,
scrolling through the digital records.
“Very expensive.
Classic taste.”
“Who was the recipient?” Teresa asked.
“He didn't specify,
but he had it engraved.”
Teresa leaned in.
“What did the engraving say?”
The manager hesitated,
then read from the screen.
“‘To E,
Our new beginning.
W.’”
Teresa felt the pieces of the puzzle clicking into place.
She began searching for women in Warren’s professional circle with the initial E.
It didn't take long.
Elena Vance.
The name hit her like a physical blow.
Vance.
Lillian’s maiden name.
Teresa did a deep dive into Elena’s background.
She wasn't a relative.
She was a young pharmaceutical representative who had changed her last name legally two years ago.
Why would a woman change her name to the maiden name of her lover’s wife?
The psychological implications were chilling.
It was an obsession.
An attempt to replace the original.
Teresa called Charles.
“I found her.
Her name is Elena.
She’s twenty-six years old.
And Charles,
you’re not going to believe this.
She was a former intern at your hospital five years ago.”
Charles felt the room spin.
“I remember her.
Bright.
Ambitious.
She worked in the pharmacy department.”
“She’s more than ambitious,”
Teresa said.
“She’s been living in an apartment owned by one of Warren’s shell companies.
And I just tracked her phone.
She’s at the hospital right now.”
Charles looked around the busy lobby.
“I don't see her.”
“Check the staff entrance,”
Teresa warned.
“She still has an old badge that hasn't been deactivated in the system.
She’s inside,
Charles.”
Charles began to run.
He ran past the cafeteria,
past the labs,
heading toward the ICU.
He arrived just in time to see a woman in a lab coat standing by Lillian’s door.
She was blonde,
slim,
and looked remarkably like a younger version of Lillian.
She held a syringe in her hand.
“Stop!” Charles shouted.
The woman turned,
her eyes wide with terror.
May you like
She didn't drop the syringe.
She moved toward the IV line.
