Chapter 12 - DR. PARKER RETURNS
Elaine Parker resurfaced on the sixth day.
Not voluntarily.
Border officials detained her trying to cross into Canada using another woman’s identification.
Federal agents brought her back.
For twelve hours, she said nothing.
Then prosecutors showed her the bunker records.
Her payments.
Her signatures.
The emergency call.
Her face changed.
She asked for an attorney.
Negotiations began.
Dr. Parker was willing to testify against Grant.
But she wanted protection.
Noah hated the idea.
Mia understood it.
“If she tells the truth, use her.”
“She helped cover my father’s death.”
“Yes.”
“She manipulated your pregnancy records.”
“Yes.”
“You want her deal?”
“I want Grant stopped.”
Mia looked at him.
“Justice doesn’t always arrive in the shape we want.”
Parker’s testimony revealed the darkest part of the conspiracy.
Daniel had confronted Grant at the estate.
The argument became physical.
Daniel collapsed during it.
Whether the collapse was caused deliberately remained disputed.
But Grant refused to call for medical help immediately.
When staff eventually called an ambulance, Parker canceled it.
Why?
Because Grant feared Daniel would survive long enough to expose the accounts.
Nearly forty minutes passed before another employee discovered Daniel and called again.
By then, it was too late.
“You let him die,” Noah said when investigators allowed him to observe part of the interview.
Parker looked down.
“Yes.”
The answer nearly broke him.
Grant might not have directly killed Daniel.
But he had made a decision.
Money over a human life.
Then Parker explained why she entered Mia’s pregnancy.
Grant contacted her after learning Mia was expecting.
He needed someone able to influence medical records if a trust challenge became necessary.
Parker agreed because Grant had spent eighteen years blackmailing her over Daniel’s death.
She falsified records.
Altered images.
Prepared documentation suggesting Mia might be medically or psychologically unfit.
But she insisted she never physically harmed Mia or the baby.
Noah did not know whether to believe her.
Then she revealed one more thing.
“Grant has another person inside your home.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He never told me names unless necessary.”
“Male or female?”
“Female.”
Noah’s mind raced through staff.
Assistants.
Housekeepers.
Nurses.
Event planners.
Then Parker added:
“She’s been there longer than Mia.”
Noah went cold.
Ruth?
Impossible.
Or was that exactly what Grant wanted him to think?
Parker shook her head.
“Not Ruth Ellison.”
“How do you know?”
“Grant hated Ruth. He said she noticed too much.”
“Then who?”
Parker leaned back.
“All I ever heard was the code name.”
“What code name?”
“Rose.”
Noah and Mia looked at each other.
Rose.
Rose-gold gown.
Scarlett’s roses at the engagement party.
Rose Garden.
Too many possibilities.
Then Mia remembered someone.
Her personal assistant.
Rosalie Dean.
Everyone called her Rosie.
She had worked with Mia for four years.
Before the pregnancy.
Before the marriage.
Before Mia had even moved into the Hale estate.
Noah ordered an immediate search.
Rosie’s apartment was empty.
Her phone disconnected.
At Mia’s gallery, investigators opened her desk.
Inside they found copies of Mia’s medical appointments.
Insurance numbers.
Travel schedules.
And photographs of Noah’s private study.
Rosie had not simply entered their home.
She had entered Mia’s life years earlier.
On her computer, one deleted message was recovered.
FROM: G.V.
SUBJECT: FINAL PHASE.
Her reply:
She trusts me completely.
Mia stared at the screen until the letters blurred.
Scarlett had been visible.
Aggressive.
Obvious.
Rosie had been kind.
Quiet.
Reliable.
She had held Mia’s hand after her first pregnancy scare.
Planned her baby shower.
Helped choose the rose-gold maternity gown she wore the night Scarlett pushed her.
Mia suddenly remembered.
Rosie had insisted on that dress.
Why?
She looked at the photograph from the gala.
Then at the fabric.
A thought formed.
“Test the gown.”
Noah frowned.
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
The laboratory examined it.
Inside the hem was a tiny tracking device.
Grant had known exactly where Mia was the entire night.
And Rosie had put the tracker there.
But investigators found something even worse.
A small receiver embedded in the device.
Not only location tracking.
Audio.
Grant had been listening.
Which meant he had heard Mia confront Scarlett.
He had heard Scarlett panic.
He had heard everything before the fall.
And if the system had been transmitting—
May you like
the fourteen missing seconds might not be missing at all.
They might exist somewhere else.
