Chapter 9 - The hospital connection
Elena hired a licensed investigator named Marcus Bell.
Not because we were building a private crime squad.
Because I wanted to know whether Marian had any connection to Rhode Island twenty-two years earlier.
Within six days:
Yes.
Marian Monroe worked as a traveling respiratory therapist.
Her employment records showed a three-month contract at St. Catherine’s Hospital.
Including the week Hannah disappeared.
I had to sit down when Marcus told me.
“What department?”
“Respiratory care.”
“Maternity?”
“She could have been called anywhere during an evacuation.”
“Was she interviewed?”
“No record we’ve found.”
“Why?”
“She may not have been identified as relevant.”
I asked:
“Could she have taken me?”
Marcus did not answer beyond evidence.
“We know she worked there.”
Good investigator.
I hated him too.
Then another fact.
Marian’s contract ended two days after Hannah vanished.
Original schedule showed four more weeks.
Reason:
Family emergency.
She left Rhode Island.
Moved to western Massachusetts.
Fourteen months later, my delayed birth certificate was filed.
The shape of the story changed.
May you like
But not enough.
Not yet.
