Chapter 5 - The Sister on the Train
The train from Boston arrived in Richmond at 6:40 p.m.
Police searched passenger lists, station cameras, and ticket records. Lily had traveled under the name Anna Hale, wearing a dark wig and glasses. Video showed her stepping onto the platform carrying a green backpack. Three minutes later, she entered a service corridor beside Track Nine.
She never came out.
A maintenance camera had been disabled. A gray delivery van left the station loading zone seven minutes later with stolen plates.
Elena stared at the footage until the shape of Lily’s walk became unbearable. Even in disguise, she tilted her left shoulder when nervous. She had done it since childhood.
“She was alive four days ago,” Elena whispered.
Daniel stood beside her in the police operations room. “That changes everything. We can find her.”
The station search produced one clue. Beneath a trash bin in the service corridor, officers found Lily’s green backpack. Inside were clothes, cash, a prepaid phone, and twelve pages copied from Henry’s secret files.
The pages documented illegal clinical trials conducted through a shell company called Meridian Hope. Patients in rural clinics had been given unapproved heart medication. Several died. Payments flowed from Ward Medical Systems to Meridian Hope, then into accounts controlled by Crane and Veronica.
One page listed code names for trial subjects. Beside three names, Lily had written deceased. Beside a fourth, she had written witness.
The witness was Dr. Samuel Vale, a former research director who vanished after Henry’s death.
Police traced Vale to a rehabilitation center outside Roanoke, where he lived under an assumed name after surviving a car crash that left him partially paralyzed. He agreed to speak only with Elena.
Vale’s room overlooked the mountains. He was thin, silver-haired, and alert despite the tremor in his hands.
“Your father tried to stop them,” he said. “Crane threatened to destroy the company and blame Henry. Veronica convinced Henry to delay reporting until they could ‘protect the employees.’ That delay gave them time to poison him.”
“Did you see it happen?”
“No. But Lily found the vial.”
Elena leaned forward. “Where?”
“In Veronica’s dressing room. Lily photographed the lot number and sent it to me. The compound was restricted to our research wing.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
Vale looked toward the door. “I tried. My brakes failed on the way.”
The crash was ruled an accident. Afterward, Crane’s men visited him in the hospital and threatened his daughter.
Vale reached beneath his blanket and removed a memory card taped to his leg. “Lily gave me this six months ago. She said I should release it only when Elena was out of prison.”
The card contained security footage from Ward Medical Systems. It showed Crane removing a refrigerated vial from a restricted cabinet. Martin stood lookout. Later footage showed Veronica entering Henry’s home carrying the medical cooler.
It was enough to reopen Henry’s death as a homicide.
But before police could transfer Vale to protective custody, the fire alarm sounded.
Nurses rushed into the corridor. Smoke rolled from a supply room. Daniel moved toward the window while Elena stayed beside Vale.
A man in hospital scrubs entered wearing a mask.
He raised a syringe.
Elena grabbed the metal water pitcher and struck his wrist. The syringe flew beneath the bed. The attacker shoved her against the wall, but Vale hooked the man’s ankle with his cane. Daniel returned and tackled him.
When police removed the mask, Elena recognized the funeral director’s assistant—the man who had helped seal Lily’s empty coffin.
In his pocket was a note containing an address and a time.
Midnight. Old Bell Foundry.
May you like
Beneath it were four words.
Bring Elena for Lily.
