Chapter 10 - The Man Who Owned the Hospital
The man who had helped my mother appeal insurance denials was secretly profiting from the same system denying her treatment.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I sat across from Rebecca Ellis and Detective Ramirez while they reviewed the new evidence.
Samuel Price had built a network of medical management companies through hidden ownership arrangements.
Richard Morgan had supplied financing and business connections.
Together, investigators believed they had diverted millions from insurance programs and pension accounts.
Patients suffered.
Workers lost retirement savings.
And anyone who threatened to expose the scheme became a problem.
My father had been one of those problems.
"Can you arrest them?" I asked.
Ramirez folded her hands.
"We're moving as quickly as the evidence allows."
I stared at the table.
"What if they disappear?"
"We're taking steps to prevent that."
I nodded.
Then Rebecca spoke.
"Emma, there may be another victim who can help us."
"Who?"
"A former Northbridge accountant named Rachel Donovan."
I frowned.
"Is she alive?"
"Yes. But she's been living under a different name."
My heart pounded.
"Why?"
"Because she testified about suspicious transfers years ago, then received threats."
I looked toward Ramirez.
"Can we find her?"
"We already have."
That evening, Rachel arrived at the police station.
She was forty-nine, with short brown hair and nervous hands.
When she saw me, she stopped.
"Oh, my God."
I froze.
"What?"
She covered her mouth.
"You look exactly like your father."
My throat tightened.
"You knew him?"
Rachel nodded.
"Thomas saved my life."
I stared.
"What happened?"
She sat slowly.
"After your father discovered the financial scheme, he helped me copy records. We planned to go to federal investigators."
"What stopped you?"
"Richard found out."
Her voice trembled.
"Thomas told me to disappear. He said he'd handle the meeting with Vincent himself."
I felt tears gathering.
"That was the day he vanished."
Rachel nodded.
"I'm sorry."
I looked away.
Then she reached into her handbag.
"I kept something."
She placed a small flash drive on the table.
"Your father gave me a copy of the financial records. I never dared open it again."
Ramirez collected it for forensic examination.
Rachel continued.
"But there's one thing I need to tell you."
I looked up.
"Samuel Price didn't just want to silence Thomas."
"Then what did he want?"
"He wanted the original ledger."
"The red folder?"
Rachel shook her head.
"No."
My heart pounded.
"The red folder was a distraction."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"Thomas knew someone would search his house. So he created a second set of documents."
I leaned forward.
"Where are the originals?"
Rachel swallowed.
"Inside the building where he worked."
"The construction site?"
She nodded.
"The old Morgan Tower."
I stared.
That building had been completed fifteen years earlier.
One of Chicago's most famous luxury towers.
And its owner was Vincent Morgan.
Rachel lowered her voice.
"Your father hid the original records behind an electrical access panel."
I gripped the table.
"Which panel?"
Rachel hesitated.
Then whispered, "The one on the sixty-first floor."
I froze.
That was Vincent Morgan's private penthouse.
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And according to Rachel, my father had left one final message beside the hidden records.
If Vincent finds this, he'll learn who ordered the attempt on his own life.
