Nurse Cara Mendoza wasn't obsessed—she was thorough. That's what she told herself as she stood in the hospital records archive on her lunch break, poring over a digital case log from seven years ago.
The trigger had been small.
A slip of paper Eliot dropped two days ago in the break room—a folded post-it with a half-erased name written at the top:
Mara Wren.
She'd almost tossed it. But the name stuck.
And now, she found it.
Mara Wren. Female. Age 16. Repeated ER visits for chest pain and breathing issues. Initially diagnosed with asthma. Symptoms escalated. Final admission: Pericardial effusion, undiagnosed until it was too late. Time of death: 3:41 AM.
She scrolled further.
Primary physician: Dr. K. Havel
Secondary: Dr. R. Singh
Family Contact: Eliot Wren, brother.
The pieces slammed into place.
Cara sat back, stunned.
So Eliot had a sister. And she'd died from medical neglect. Under Havel's supervision.
And now Havel was… gone. Sudden cardiac arrest. Untraceable potassium anomaly in the toxicology report. Ruled natural. No follow-up.
Cara's chest tightened. She remembered the day they got the news about Havel's death. Eliot had seemed distant—but calm.
Too calm.
She minimized the file and stared at the monitor.
Was this it? Was Eliot seeking revenge? Righting the wrongs the system ignored?
Or was he—no. She didn't want to say the word. Not yet.
Her fingers hovered over her phone. She could report this. Quietly. Send a note to admin, or risk calling in a tip.
But something held her back.
She didn't trust the system either.
She'd seen what it did to patients like Mara.
If Eliot was doing something… was he wrong?
Cara closed the file but not the door in her mind.
She needed more. More answers. More proof.
And maybe, just maybe, she needed to talk to Eliot.
Before it was too late.
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End of Chapter 6.
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