I Never Signed It
Chapter 04 - I Never Signed It
Ethan backed away until he felt the cold wall behind him. Victor approached slowly, still wearing the gentle expression he used at family dinners.
“You misunderstood,” Victor said. “I was talking about a business deal.”
“You said Mom was supposed to be gone.”
Victor crouched to Ethan’s height. “Your father is upset. The police are upset. People say strange things in hospitals. You don’t want to make everything worse, do you?”
Before Ethan could answer, Daniel called from the nurses’ station. Victor stood and adjusted his jacket.
“We’ll keep this between us,” he murmured.
Ethan ran to his father but could not speak with Victor watching. Daniel was meeting with Detective Lena Brooks, who specialized in financial crimes and identity theft. She had found another problem with the order: the digital verification code had been sent to a phone number ending in 7712.
Daniel’s number ended in 4386.
Victor’s private business phone ended in 7712.
Victor claimed the number had been entered by mistake. Price supported him, saying hospital staff often copied contact details from company insurance records. Detective Brooks was not convinced, but suspicion was not proof.
That night, Daniel and Ethan stayed in a small family room across the hall. Daniel apologized for leaving him alone, though Ethan knew the blame belonged elsewhere.
“Dad,” Ethan whispered, “Uncle Victor said Mom was supposed to be gone before you got back.”
Daniel became very still. He asked Ethan to repeat every word. Then he called Detective Brooks.
Within an hour, police requested Victor’s phone records and hospital security footage. But the hallway camera near Room 412 had stopped recording from 7:52 to 8:36 that morning. Administrator Price blamed a software update.
Daniel slammed his hand against the table. “Every mistake helps the same person.”
Brooks warned him to stay calm. If Victor and Price were involved, they would make more mistakes under pressure. She also asked whether Laura kept backup files anywhere outside the company.
Ethan remembered his mother kneeling beside his toy box two nights before the crash. She had placed something inside his old silver astronaut and told him it was part of a secret mission.
He had thought it was a game.
“Dad,” he said, “we need to go home.”
Daniel stared at him. “Why?”
“Because Mom gave me something. She said only a brave astronaut could keep it safe.”
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From Laura’s room came a sudden alarm.
They rushed across the hall and found Dr. Morris calling for help. Laura’s medication pump had been changed to a dose no doctor had ordered.
