Chapter 5 - The Woman in Room 914
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The hospital moved Nora to a secure room on the ninth floor.
She disliked the change immediately.
Room 914 was smaller than the previous one, with a narrow window overlooking a parking structure and a door that locked with an electronic panel. Two security officers stood outside, although Raphael insisted they were there for her protection rather than to keep her under watch.
Nora believed him.
Mostly.
She also believed that anyone who controlled the hospital's security systems could potentially control those officers.
So she asked for the room key.
The nurse frowned.
"You're not supposed to leave your bed without assistance."
"I wasn't planning to run a marathon."
"Miss Pell."
"Fine. I won't leave the bed. But I want to know who can enter this room."
The nurse explained the visitor procedures, and Nora requested that no one be admitted without her explicit approval. She also asked the hospital to document every access attempt.
By noon, Raphael arrived carrying a paper bag.
Nora eyed it suspiciously.
"If that's another medical bill, I'm not signing anything."
"It's soup."
"That is somehow worse."
He placed the bag on the table.
"You haven't eaten."
"I had toast."
"Three bites of toast isn't a meal."
"Are you my boss or my grandmother?"
"At the moment, I'm the only person in this building who seems determined to keep you alive."
Nora looked away.
The words landed too close to the truth.
Raphael pulled a chair beside her bed.
"Someone tried to enter your room last night."
"I heard."
"They sent me a photograph of you."
Her face went cold.
"Who?"
"Unknown number. The message told me to let the accountant die in peace."
Nora stared at him.
"Did you tell the police?"
"An independent investigator is handling the evidence. I've also informed the hospital's security director."
"Good."
Raphael studied her.
"You sound surprised."
"I'm relieved. There's a difference."
He accepted the distinction without argument.
For a while, they sat in silence. Nora ate several spoonfuls of soup, partly because she was hungry and partly because Raphael watched her as if the bowl were a test.
Finally, she asked, "Did you find the accounts?"
"Eight million dollars in suspicious transactions so far."
Her expression tightened.
"There's more."
"How much more?"
"I couldn't finish tracing every transfer before the attack. But I found references to another ledger. It isn't stored on the flash drive."
"Where is it?"
Nora looked at the door.
"On paper."
Raphael's attention sharpened.
"Where?"
"In a storage room beneath your old office. Behind the panel on the north wall."
"How do you know it's there?"
"Because I put it there."
He stared at her.
"You hid financial evidence inside my building?"
"I hid a copy of the records where the people stealing them wouldn't look."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wanted to know who would come looking for it."
Raphael rose slowly.
"Someone knew you had the ledger."
"Yes."
"Someone attacked you to retrieve it."
"Probably."
"And you came here with broken ribs instead of telling me where it was."
Nora looked at him.
"I came here because I didn't know whether you were involved. I wasn't going to hand over the only evidence I had to someone I couldn't trust."
For a long moment, Raphael said nothing.
Then he sat down again.
"That was a reasonable decision."
She blinked.
"You're not going to lecture me?"
"I could. But it wouldn't change anything."
He leaned forward.
"Tell me exactly where the ledger is. I'll have an independent team retrieve it."
Nora gave him the location and described the panel.
Before he left, she caught his sleeve.
"Raphael?"
He turned.
"Don't send Dominic."
His expression hardened.
"You're certain?"
"No."
She released his sleeve.
"But I'm afraid he knows more than he's saying."
Raphael looked toward the door.
"Then we won't tell him anything."
He walked out of Room 914 with the quiet determination of a man preparing to dismantle his own organization.
Nora watched him go.
She had survived the stairs.
May you like
She had survived the attack.
Now she had to survive the truth.
