Chapter 4 - The Last Visitor
By nine the next morning, Clara was sitting in a private records office at Massachusetts General Hospital with coffee she had forgotten to drink.
She had not slept.
Leonardo had placed two security men outside a hotel room he rented for her, and Clara had spent most of the night staring at the ceiling.
At 4:13 a.m., she finally called the hospital.
At 5:02, an administrator confirmed that archived visitor logs from Gabriel's admission still existed.
At 6:15, Leonardo's jet was ready.
Clara almost refused on principle.
Then she remembered the note from her apartment.
Now Boston rain streaked down another set of windows while a records clerk typed Gabriel Bennett's name into an old database.
Leonardo sat beside Clara.
Dante stood near the door.
The clerk frowned.
"This record was accessed recently."
Clara looked up.
"By who?"
"I can't disclose internal employee information without authorization."
Leonardo reached into his jacket.
Clara touched his arm.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Don't intimidate her."
"I was getting my lawyer's card."
Clara raised an eyebrow.
"Of course you were."
The clerk tried not to smile.
After a signed release from Clara and a phone call to legal, the hospital provided the surviving log.
Clara scanned the entries.
Her own name appeared dozens of times.
Maya Chen appeared twice.
A hospital chaplain appeared once.
Then, at 2:17 a.m. on Gabriel's final night, a name Clara did not recognize appeared on the sheet.
Michael Raines.
"Who is that?" Leonardo asked.
Clara shook her head.
"I have no idea."
Dante moved closer.
"Time out?"
The clerk scrolled.
"There isn't one."
"Meaning?"
"It may not have been recorded, or he may have remained until access was restricted later that morning."
Clara's skin prickled.
"I was there that night."
"I left around two because the nurse made me go eat something."
"I came back before three."
Leonardo looked at her.
"Did you see anyone leaving?"
Clara searched the memory.
A fluorescent hallway.
A vending machine humming in the corner.
A woman arguing quietly at a desk.
A man in a baseball cap near the elevators.
Everything had been blurred by exhaustion.
"Maybe."
"I don't know."
Dante asked the clerk whether security footage had been retained.
She shook her head.
"Not from three years ago."
Clara sank back into her chair.
The trip suddenly felt pointless.
Then an older nurse entered carrying a paper folder.
"I'm sorry to interrupt."
She looked at Clara.
"Were you Gabriel Bennett's wife?"
Clara stood.
"Yes."
The nurse's expression softened with recognition.
"I thought I remembered you."
"I'm Ellen Price."
"I worked nights on his floor."
Clara remembered her immediately.
Ellen had brought her a blanket after midnight and had once placed a sandwich beside her without saying a word.
"You were kind to me."
"I remember."
Ellen glanced toward Leonardo and Dante.
"The records manager said you were asking about visitors."
Clara nodded.
"Michael Raines."
Ellen's face changed.
"That wasn't his name."
Dante stepped forward.
"You knew him?"
"No."
"But I knew the name was wrong."
"Why?"
Ellen lowered her voice.
"Because I asked for identification."
"He showed me a driver's license, but the photograph didn't match very well."
"I reported it."
"Someone from administration called and told me he had been cleared as a private security consultant for the family."
Clara looked at Leonardo.
"Your family?"
"Not by me."
Ellen continued.
"He was maybe fifty."
"Gray at the temples."
"Expensive coat."
"He had a mark near his left jaw."
Leonardo stopped breathing.
Dante looked at him.
"No."
Clara noticed instantly.
"You know him."
Leonardo's voice became flat.
"Describe the mark."
Ellen touched the side of her own face.
"Small crescent shape."
"Almost like an old burn."
Dante closed his eyes for half a second.
Clara turned between them.
"Who is he?"
Leonardo answered reluctantly.
"Victor Sorrento."
"Our father's oldest friend."
"He has managed the legal companies since before Gabriel and I were adults."
Clara waited.
"And?"
"And he told me Gabriel died in Italy."
The room went quiet.
Ellen looked uncomfortable.
Clara's anger sharpened into something colder.
"So the man who told you Gabriel died five years ago was in Gabriel's hospital room three years ago."
Leonardo nodded once.
Dante paced toward the window.
"Victor knew."
"He knew Gabe survived the boat."
"Maybe."
Leonardo's expression hardened.
"Or he found out later."
Clara looked at Ellen.
"What happened while he was there?"
The nurse hesitated.
"Nothing I can prove."
"Please."
Ellen looked at the door and then back at Clara.
"I came in around 2:35 because one of the monitors had been disconnected from central tracking."
Clara's face drained.
"Disconnected?"
"Only briefly."
"Maybe four minutes."
"When I entered, the man was standing near the bed."
"He said Gabriel had pulled a lead loose."
"But your husband was sedated."
Clara gripped the back of the chair.
"Did you see his face?"
"Gabriel's?"
"Yes."
Ellen shook her head slowly.
"He had extensive dressings."
"Did you ever see enough of him to know it was actually Gabriel?"
The question came out more desperately than Clara intended.
Ellen's eyes filled with sympathy.
"I had no reason to doubt the chart."
That was not an answer.
Clara knew it.
Leonardo knew it.
"What about his belongings?" Clara asked.
"His wedding band, wallet, clothes?"
Ellen thought for a moment.
"The personal effects bag disappeared that night."
Clara stared at her.
"They told me it was lost during transfer."
"I remember."
Ellen nodded.
"Hospital security investigated."
"Then administration closed it."
Dante leaned toward Leonardo.
"Victor has people everywhere."
Clara heard him.
"Stop talking about people like they are pieces on a board."
"My husband was in that bed."
"Or someone was."
The words silenced the room.
Ellen looked at Clara carefully.
"There is one more thing."
Clara turned.
"On the morning he died, I found something under the mattress when housekeeping came."
"I gave it to security because I assumed it belonged to him."
"What?"
"A photograph."
Leonardo stepped closer.
"Of whom?"
"A woman."
"Dark hair."
"Red scarf."
"There was writing on the back."
Clara's voice was almost a whisper.
"What did it say?"
Ellen closed her eyes, trying to remember.
Then she looked directly at Clara.
"It said, 'If Leo believes I'm dead, she stays safe.'"
Clara felt the room narrow around her.
"She?"
Ellen nodded.
"There was a name beneath it."
"What name?"
May you like
Ellen's expression became apologetic.
"Clara."
