Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE RED DRESSBy noon, the hospital had become a fortress.
My attorney arranged for the children to remain under medical observation while we filed emergency custody paperwork.
Claire arrived at 12:47 p.m.
She walked through the hospital doors wearing the same red dress from the footage.
Perfect hair.
Perfect makeup.
Perfect tears.
She looked like a devastated mother.
Not a woman who had abandoned two children.
When she saw me, she stopped.
“Daniel.”
I said nothing.
She approached slowly.
“Where are they?”
“With the nurse.”
“I need to see them.”
“You can wait.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You won't let me see my own children?”
“Not until the hospital clears it.”
She stared at me.
Then whispered:
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
She looked around.
“Not here.”
“Why not?”
“Because people are listening.”
I almost smiled.
“So now you're worried about people listening?”
She flinched.
My attorney stepped beside me.
Claire looked at him.
“You hired a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“Against me?”
I looked directly into her eyes.
“Against whoever has been stealing from me.”
Her expression changed.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
Then she recovered.
“What are you talking about?”
“Three hundred thousand dollars.”
Her face went pale.
“Daniel…”
“Two hundred sixteen thousand paid to Marcus Vale.”
She stared at me.
“That's not what you think.”
“What do you think I think?”
She couldn't answer.
Then the hospital security officer approached.
“Ma'am, your children are under observation. Please wait in the family area.”
Claire nodded.
She turned toward me.
“I love you.”
The sentence almost made me laugh.
Instead, I said:
“Do you love our children?”
Her mouth trembled.
“Of course.”
“Then why did Lily have to carry Noah?”
She froze.
“Who told you that?”
I stared at her.
She realized her mistake immediately.
Nobody had told her.
The footage had.
She stepped backward.
“I didn't know.”
“You were there.”
“No.”
“You told her not to call me.”
“I was upset.”
“You left her with your mother.”
“She offered.”
“She is seven.”
Claire wiped a tear.
Then she whispered:
“Daniel, you're making a terrible mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Digging into things you don't understand.”
My attorney stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
Claire looked at me one last time.
Then she said something so quietly I nearly missed it.
“You think the cameras will save you?”
She turned and walked away.
I watched her disappear around the corner.
Then my attorney asked:
“Did you notice what she was carrying?”
I shook my head.
“A black purse.”
“Exactly.”
He showed me a photograph he'd taken.
“Look at the reflection in the glass.”
A flash drive was partially visible inside her purse.
She hadn't come for the children.
She had come for evidence.
That realization sent me straight back to the footage.
We reviewed the clips frame by frame.
At 12:32 p.m., fifteen minutes before Claire entered the hospital, another car pulled into the employee parking area.
Marcus.
He remained inside for four minutes.
Then a woman exited the passenger side.
I didn't recognize her.
She walked into the hospital.
At first, I thought she was a nurse.
Then the video zoomed.
She was wearing a gray coat.
And holding the same black purse.
We checked her route.
She entered the hospital through the side entrance.
Then walked directly toward the records department.
My attorney looked at me.
“She's not supposed to be in there.”
We called hospital administration.
Security intercepted her before she reached the archives.
She claimed to be a family representative.
For whom?
Claire.
But the most disturbing part wasn't that she had tried to access medical records.
It was what she carried.
Inside the purse was a forged authorization form.
A request for Lily's complete medical history.
Including psychiatric records.
My attorney read it twice.
Then looked up.
“They're building a case.”
“Against Lily?”
“No.”
He put the document down.
“Against you.”
The plan became clear.
If they could manufacture a story that I was unstable, aggressive, or dangerous, they could use the children as leverage.
I felt something cold settle inside me.
They weren't simply stealing my money anymore.
They were constructing a courtroom version of me.
A version where I was the villain.
I called my digital forensics team.
“Trace the unknown woman.”
Three hours later, they gave me a name.
Rebecca Sloan.
Private investigator.
And former employee of a company owned by Marcus Vale.
I searched the archive.
Nothing.
Then I searched Claire's phone backups.
One deleted message appeared.
Rebecca: The report will say he has anger issues. I can make the school records support it.
Below it, Claire had replied:
Make sure Lily repeats the story.
I stared at the message.
My daughter.
They were planning to use my seven-year-old daughter to lie about me.
Then another message appeared.
What about the boy?
Claire's response was only four words.
He won't remember any of it.
I leaned back.
My hands were shaking.
Not from fear.
From rage.
But rage was exactly what they wanted.
So I took a breath.
And opened a fresh file.
Because now I wasn't investigating an affair.
May you like
I was investigating a conspiracy.
And the first person I needed to find was Rebecca Sloan.
