Chapter 6 - The Whistleblower
By noon, the news broke locally. Though the names were initially withheld, rumors of an attempted baby snatching at the city's most prestigious hospital spread like wildfire.
Detective Jenkins returned to my room, looking more exhausted than before.
"We have a break in the case," she announced, closing the door behind her. "Nurse Higgins cracked."
I looked up from nursing Ethan. "She confessed?"
Jenkins nodded. "She’s a travel nurse, deeply in debt from nursing school. Lorraine Hamilton approached her two weeks ago. Offered her fifty thousand dollars in cash to bypass hospital protocols and handle the baby's transport."
"Is that enough to arrest Daniel and Lorraine?" I asked desperately.
"It’s enough to hold them," Jenkins said carefully. "But Lorraine’s lawyers are already spinning a narrative. They are claiming Nurse Higgins is lying to secure a plea deal. They are claiming the audio recording is inadmissible because Rebecca is a minor and recorded them without consent in a two-party consent state."
Marcus, who was sitting in the corner reviewing files, scoffed loudly. "They can try that in civil court, but this is a criminal investigation of attempted kidnapping and fraud. The recording will hold up."
"Maybe," Jenkins said. "But Lorraine is trying to throw Daniel under the bus. She’s claiming she thought the medical documents were real, that Daniel lied to her about your mental state. She’s trying to walk away clean."
"She was holding the folder!" I yelled. "She told Daniel to wipe my phone!"
"I know," Jenkins said soothingly. "But we need definitive proof that Lorraine orchestrated the forgery with Dr. Thorne. Right now, Thorne has fled the state. If we can't tie Lorraine directly to the money that paid off the doctor and the nurse, she might post bail and fly to a non-extradition country by midnight."
I looked down at Rebecca, who was sleeping on the small hospital sofa, exhausted from the trauma of the last 24 hours.
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They were not going to get away with this. They were not going to destroy my family and walk free.
"Detective," I said, my voice cold and steady. "I know where Lorraine keeps her private ledgers."
