Chapter 6 - THE SERVER ROOM
The deletion stopped after eleven minutes.
But thousands of files disappeared.
Backup systems restored most of them.
Some remained corrupted.
The erased folders involved clinical trials, hospital contracts, and a device called the Mercer Valve.
The valve was designed for premature infants with heart complications.
Noah might eventually need one.
The patent belonged to my family trust.
Grant’s company manufactured it under license.
My grandfather studied the missing files.
“Someone wanted to hide defects.”
A quality-control report had been deleted three times over six months.
The restored version showed that one production batch failed pressure tests.
Grant had ordered the batch released anyway.
He feared a recall would damage negotiations with a private investment group.
The defective valves had been shipped to seven hospitals.
One was Beacon Crest.
My blood turned cold.
“Were any used?”
The hospital president checked immediately.
Three infants had received devices from the affected batch.
One suffered complications.
Another required emergency replacement.
The third had died.
Grant had concealed the report.
He had allowed doctors to believe the death resulted from the baby’s condition.
Theodore’s face became rigid.
“This is no longer a family scandal.”
“It is corporate homicide.”
The company ordered a nationwide recall.
Hospitals were notified.
Families were contacted.
Grant’s attorneys issued a denial.
They claimed quality officers had exaggerated the risk.
Then an anonymous email arrived in my hospital inbox.
Grant did not act alone.
The message included a photograph of a signed approval form.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
I had never seen it.
Someone had forged my name to make it appear that I approved the defective batch.
The timestamp placed me inside the hospital for prenatal testing on the day it was signed.
Grant had access to copies of my signature.
He had used them before.
Helen examined the document.
“The digital certificate is registered to your old company account.”
“I stopped using that account after I became pregnant.”
“Someone reactivated it.”
The technical team traced the access.
The login came from a computer inside Beacon Crest Medical Center.
More specifically, from the executive suite.
My grandfather looked toward the hospital president.
Only five people had access to that floor.
One was Dr. Malcolm Pierce.
The chief medical officer who had stood beside us in the NICU.
The man who discovered Elise’s medication was wrong.
Security reviewed his office.
It was empty.
His computer had been wiped.
A travel bag was missing.
Dr. Pierce had left the hospital less than an hour after Grant’s arrest.
His final outgoing call went to Derek Shaw.
The second went to Vanessa.
The third went to a number registered to Theodore Vale.
My grandfather stared at the record.
“I never received that call.”
Helen looked at him.
“Then someone cloned your private number.”
A text message arrived on my phone.
It appeared to come from my grandfather.
May you like
Do not trust anyone inside the hospital.
Noah’s monitor alarm sounded immediately afterward.
