Chapter 5 - THE ROOM WITH NO WINDOWS
The black SUV disappeared after Margaret turned into an underground parking garage beneath a private medical building.
Norah was shaking.
“Why would Dominic Russo be my father's emergency contact?”
Margaret switched off the engine.
“I don't know everything, sweetheart. But Elliot has been asking questions about Thomas Whitmore for months.”
“Why?”
“Because Elliot remembers things his family wishes he'd forgotten.”
A service elevator carried them to a quiet apartment on the building's upper floor.
Elliot was waiting inside.
His tie was gone, and he'd changed into a soft gray sweater.
He looked relieved to see Norah.
“I'm glad you're safe.”
She held up the folder.
“Tell me everything.”
Elliot nodded.
Then he led her to a study containing three computer monitors, rows of labeled binders, and a large whiteboard covered with dates.
“Five years ago, your father uncovered discrepancies in financial transfers between Russo Imports and a company called Northbridge Medical Holdings.”
Norah stared at the screen.
“I've heard that name.”
“Northbridge owns four private medical facilities. One is outside Albany.”
“Where my father is?”
“Possibly.”
Elliot adjusted the brightness on his monitor.
“I've been investigating because some of those transfers used my electronic signature.”
Norah looked at him.
“You authorized them?”
“No.”
He met her eyes.
“Someone has been using my identity.”
For years, Enzo had called his younger brother incapable of managing finances.
Yet Elliot understood sophisticated accounting systems.
He had quietly earned degrees in mathematics and computer science through remote university programs.
Almost nobody in the Russo family knew.
“Can you prove who did it?” Norah asked.
“I'm working on it.”
He opened another file.
A video appeared.
The recording showed a narrow medical corridor.
A man in hospital clothing walked past a security camera.
He was thinner than Norah remembered.
His hair was almost entirely gray.
But his face—
“Oh, God.”
Norah covered her mouth.
“Dad.”
Elliot stopped the recording.
“The footage is from eleven days ago.”
Norah began crying.
Elliot didn't touch her without permission.
He simply moved a box of tissues within reach.
After a moment, Norah looked up.
“We have to get him out.”
Elliot nodded.
But before he could speak, another image appeared on the monitor.
A photograph of a woman entering the same facility.
Norah leaned forward.
Then she whispered:
“That's impossible.”
May you like
Because the woman was her mother.
And according to the visitor log, she'd been visiting Thomas Whitmore every single month.
