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“Wait,” Josh said right when Sylvie would have reached for the doorknob. He dropped his hand from his forehead in defeat. “Dr. Kolsby was completely aware of his surroundings by the time that I arrived at the hospital for my shift. Around seven o’clock that night and hours after Millie spoke with the floor nurse, Dr. Cranston came down to speak with Dr. Kolsby’s older son. It wasn’t long after their conversation that Millie was taken off the rotation for ICU.”
“Dr. Cranston?” Sylvie repeated with curiosity. She’d seen the name somewhere in her list of hospital staff. “And who is Dr. Cranston?”
“Dr. Neil Cranston.” Josh supplied the name with a grimace. It was evident that he had no respect for the doctor. “He’s a cardiac surgeon, and a close friend of the Kolsbys.”
Sylvie wasn’t quite sure what she was missing. Josh seemed to be looking more pointedly at her, as if there was something more to the story than Dr. Cranston somehow having sway over Millie being transferred to another floor. When she continued to stare at him rather blankly, he finally caved and gave her something substantial.
“Dr. Cranston was a suspect in a missing person’s case two years ago. He was involved with a lab technician, and one day she didn’t show up for work. Her family reported her missing, and Dr. Cranston was questioned by the police. The hospital’s PR team kicked into overdrive, and they did their best to minimize Cranston’s involvement.”
“What was the name of this technician?” Sylvie asked, wondering why Millie hadn’t said anything to them about such an obvious link. “And what was the outcome of the investigation?”
“Natalie Thorne. And there was no outcome. She was never found.”
Chapter Eleven
Brooklyn Sloane
December 2022
Monday — 1:57pm
“Brook,youhaveacall on line two.”
“Thank you, Kate.” Brook refocused her attention on Bit, who was busy writing down a list of internet searches that she would need results from by the end of the day. “Whatever you do, we cannot break any HIPAA laws nor violate the hospital’s database firewall. I realize that will limit your search results, but we need to go about this the right way. Not working side by side with law enforcement inhibits our ability to gather certain information. If we do manage to be able to hand this case off to them, we want everything above board so that they can prosecute the guilty party in the court of law.”
“You only need the patients’ names,” Bit said as his fingers skated across the keyboard. “You don’t want access to their files. I have an idea that would give us the names of Dr. Kolsby’s patients without violating their privacy.”
Brook somehow managed to stifle a moan of future regret, but Bit had come a long way since the beginning of the year. While his methods to gathering intel were a bit unorthodox, he was finally understanding why it was so important to remain on the right side of the blurred line that was always presented to them in an investigation.
“I got it covered, Boss. Don’t worry.”
Brookwouldworry, but she had a call to take and a profile to draft.
She hesitated in her steps toward the door, but then thought better of turning around with another warning. She had to trust her team’s decisions within the confines of a case.
As she made her way down the hallway past the various offices and conference rooms, she couldn’t help but think back over the morning’s events. Bit had already forwarded everything that he could find on Natalie Thorne to the shared documents. Sylvie had uncovered quite the motherload when it came to her meeting with Josh Perisot.
Natalie Thorne had been a twenty-nine-year-old lab technician who had gone missing after a shift at the hospital. Security footage showed her walking to her car and driving out of the hospital’s parking lot. She never made it home, and her vehicle had never been recovered.
Was it a coincidence that Natalie Thorne had been a brunette?
A quick glance into Theo’s office showed that he still hadn’t returned from conducting interviews. The last she’d heard from Theo had been a couple of hours ago. He’d been having trouble locating Scott Crane, the thirty-six-year-old anesthesiologist who had been in surgery when Dr. Kolsby’s spleen had been removed. Several of the hospital staff seemed to be difficult to locate today.
As Brook was about to enter her office, movement in her peripheral vision stopped her from crossing the threshold. Someone had walked off the elevator. Normally, anyone visiting the floor did so with the intent of visiting the hedge fund across the hall.
To Brook’s surprise, Catherine Kolsby stepped off the elevator.
“Kate, would you please buzz Ms. Kolsby into the office? Oh, and please tell whoever is on line two that I will have to call them back.”
Brook observed Catherine falter in her steps upon seeing the biometric scanner. She must have heard the lock disengage, though. The gentleman with her reached around and pulled on the handle, allowing Catherine to cross the threshold first. Her long brown hair swung lightly as she paused just inside the entrance so that her companion could join her.
“Miss Kolsby, what can I do for you?”
“I wanted to discuss something important with you in private. Something that I didn’t want to bring up in front of my father.” Catherine took the man’s hand and squeezed his fingers. He whispered something to her, but since they were still near the entrance, Brook couldn’t overhear him. “This is Stephen Averill, my fiancé.”
“Mr. Averill,” Brook said, not having to take a step forward to greet him. He was holding onto Catherine’s fingers with his left hand, but he’d escorted her across the marble tile to shake Brook’s hand. “Congratulations on your engagement.”
“Thank you,” Stephen murmured, releasing Catherine’s hand so that she could walk in front of him. Brook led the way into her office, catching the sound of Kate giving an explanation to the caller on line two. “I had hoped to be at the house when you spoke with the family, but I had a meeting that I couldn’t get out of. Catherine explained what took place this morning with Brett, and you should know that he had nothing to do with whatever break-in occurred at…”
