Chapter 12 - Diane
The easiest suspect was Diane Foster.
Marlene’s sister.
Retired St. Catherine nurse.
Volunteer badge.
Family loyalty.
Access to hospital staff.
It fit too neatly.
Diane agreed to full device review.
No suspicious template.
No proton account.
No communication with Dr. Voss about Sarah.
Then hospital access logs showed her volunteer badge entered the building the day the template was downloaded.
9:03 a.m.
Exited 12:11.
The download occurred 10:02.
Bad timing.
But Diane spent those hours at patient information desk under camera.
Could she leave?
Briefly.
Did she?
Video showed one restroom break.
Seven minutes.
No access to staff computers.
Then user audit.
Template PSY 44B exported under account:
SVOSS
Dr. Samuel Voss.
He was at the hospital that morning.
He had a 9:30 committee meeting.
At 10:02, meeting room camera showed him speaking at the table.
Not using computer.
His account may have remained logged into office workstation.
Who accessed his office?
Badge logs.
Three people.
His assistant, Monica Reed.
IT technician, Peter Lowell.
Dr. Voss himself earlier.
Monica became next obvious suspect.
She knew Marlene as a patient.
Had scheduled appointments.
She denied sending anything.
Her phone clean.
Email clean.
Financial records no strange payments.
Then she remembered:
“Marlene called the office three weeks ago.”
“What did she ask?”
“For copies of old correspondence.”
“Did you send any?”
“I sent her own insurance letter through secure portal.”
That letter had Voss’s signature.
Already known.
“Template?”
“No.”
But Monica had opened the PSY 44B template while preparing another patient letter.
Time:
9:48.
Then left office for committee delivery.
At 10:02, someone used the same logged in workstation to export the blank template to a USB device.
USB serial number recorded.
KINGSTON 4481.
Who owned it?
Unknown.
Hospital IT kept external device logs but not owners.
Then Peter Lowell, IT technician, had entered the office at 9:57 to replace a printer cable.
He admitted carrying a USB toolkit.
Serial?
His toolkit drive:
KINGSTON 4481.
There.
He looked stunned.
“I did not copy any psychiatric template.”
“Forensics?”
His drive had been reformatted six days later during routine imaging work.
Old deleted files partly recoverable.
One PSY 44B template existed in remnants.
That looked bad.
Then Peter explained:
“I copy print drivers and test documents when troubleshooting.”
“Why psychiatric template?”
“I print whatever is open.”
Monica remembered.
She had left the blank template open on screen while printer failed.
Peter used it as test page.
He saved a copy to USB accidentally while creating print spool test.
That could explain export.
How did Marlene get it?
Peter’s USB later left hospital.
Who touched it?
Dozens? Mostly him.
Then device history showed it connected Saturday two weeks later to a computer at:
WICHITA CENTRAL LIBRARY
Marlene used that library.
Coincidence?
Peter taught a free computer literacy workshop there once a month.
Dates?
Same Saturday.
He brought the toolkit drive.
Marlene attended the workshop.
Now the route existed without conspiracy.
Peter’s USB contained the hospital template accidentally.
Marlene may have copied it while using workstation.
Did she?
Library camera retention still available.
Footage showed Marlene at computer station 14.
Peter’s toolkit USB sat on instructor desk.
At 11:22, Marlene walked over while Peter helped another participant.
She picked up the drive.
Connected it to her computer.
Three minutes.
Returned it.
There.
No hospital accomplice.
No secret doctor.
She stole the template opportunistically.
Her confession that she acted alone became more credible.
The big mysterious clue resolved into a smaller but still deliberate act.
Sarah almost smiled when Mara explained.
“So Mom stole a USB during computer class.”
“Yes.”
“That sounds exactly like her.”
Then Marlene’s charging case strengthened with new evidence.
The hospital angle no longer suggested hidden conspiracy.
But open questions remained around earlier behavior.
Why had Marlene begun planning so far in advance?
The Thomas recordings explained much.
Then Diane visited Sarah through a letter, not in person.
She wrote:
I should have confronted my sister years ago when she treated your boundaries like insults.
Sarah read that one.
Then asked Mara:
“Did Aunt Diane know about the $22,000?”
Yes.
Thomas had told her.
Diane encouraged Marlene to repay it quietly.
She did.
No report.
No confrontation.
Another family member choosing peace.
Sarah called Diane.
First family call since incident.
Not reconciliation.
Questions.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Diane cried.
“Because your mother paid it back.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I thought telling you would destroy your relationship.”
“It destroyed itself later.”
Diane had no defense.
Then she said:
“Your father made me promise something.”
“What?”
“If Marlene ever tried to use illness to control you, I was supposed to give you a box.”
Sarah stared.
“What box?”
Diane had kept it for three years.
Never opened.
Thomas Brooks’s handwriting on top:
May you like
FOR SARAH IF YOUR MOTHER EVER DECIDES YOU ARE TOO SICK TO CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF.
Continue to the next part: Sarah’s aunt has been holding a sealed box from Thomas for three years with instructions to open it only if Marlene ever tried to use illness as a reason to take control.
