She stopped, pulled his blanket higher over his legs, and gave him a reassuring smile.
“You’re going to be all right, Mr. Harris. Nurse Emily knows every medication on your chart.”
Then she continued toward the elevator.
Marcus watched her leave with an expression so satisfied it almost resembled pride.
In front of the entire department, he had just reminded everyone that he was the chief administrative officer of Northlake Medical Center in Seattle.
What he did not know was that the woman he had just expelled carried inside her handbag the only authority capable of determining the future of the entire hospital.
Rain had begun falling by the time Claire reached the parking garage.
She walked toward her car but did not open it.
Instead, she stood beneath the cold drizzle, trying to breathe normally.
Inside her handbag was a cream-colored envelope.
Her name had been written across the front in her father’s trembling handwriting.
She had carried it unopened for six years.
Her father, Dr. William Bennett, had placed it in her hands only hours before he died.
“Do not open this yet,” he had told her. “Open it only when the people closest to you finally reveal who they truly are. You will know when that day comes.”
At the time, Claire had believed they were the confused words of a sick man exhausted by pain and medication.
Now she looked toward the illuminated windows of the hospital.
Somewhere inside, Marcus was probably celebrating her dismissal with Sabrina.
Claire broke the seal.
Inside was a small card containing a phone number and one sentence.
“Call Jonathan Reed. He has been protecting what has always belonged to you. Do not sign anything.”
