Eleven Minutes Missing
Chapter 02 - Eleven Minutes Missing
Elena woke to the sound of Adrian arguing beyond a curtain. The baby’s heartbeat was stable, but the doctor warned that the next twenty-four hours would be critical. Adrian came to her bedside with rain on his tuxedo and fear stripped across his face. When Elena told him Celeste had been in the room, he did not interrupt. He held her hand until she finished every detail.
Hospital security arrived with an administrator named Dr. Harlan. He promised immediate access to the hallway recordings. Forty minutes later, he returned pale and apologetic. The camera outside Suite 904 had suffered an unexplained interruption. Eleven minutes were missing—the exact eleven minutes between Adrian’s departure and Maya’s arrival.
Celeste answered Adrian’s call from a charity luncheon across town. She sounded horrified. She claimed she had not visited the hospital all day and offered to send security footage from the ballroom. Within an hour, a photograph appeared online showing Celeste beside the mayor at the event. The timestamp placed her there only eighteen minutes before Elena fell.
“It’s possible she came here afterward,” Elena said.
Adrian nodded, but the calculation troubled him. The drive should have taken nearly half an hour. Someone had either altered the luncheon timestamp or helped Celeste enter the hospital unseen.
By morning, the official incident report described Elena’s collapse as an accidental fall. It mentioned wet flooring, dizziness associated with pregnancy, and no evidence of unauthorized entry. Maya’s name appeared at the bottom, but the language did not sound like her.
Maya visited when Adrian stepped into the hall. She closed the door and spoke quietly. “I wrote that the floor was dry around your shoes and wet only near the chair. I also wrote that the door had been locked. Someone changed my report.”
She opened her palm and revealed the diamond earring back she had found beneath the bed.
Elena studied the tiny piece of metal. Celeste had worn diamond drops at the foundation gala two nights earlier. Photographers had captured them from every angle.
“Don’t tell hospital security you have that,” Elena said.
May you like
Maya looked frightened, but she nodded.
Above them, the camera’s red light blinked again. Elena remembered seeing the same light before Celeste entered. The camera had been working. The footage had not vanished by accident. Someone had erased it because the truth was more dangerous than the attack itself.
