Chapter 2 - THE CAMERA ABOVE THE DOOR
Footsteps thundered through the corridor.
Evelyn threw the transfer documents across my chest and grabbed a pen from the bedside table.
“Sign before they come in.”
I pushed the papers away with one shaking hand.
Connor looked toward the door.
“What did she press?”
My mother followed his eyes to the pillow.
For the first time, uncertainty entered her face.
The door opened forcefully.
Dr. Rachel Morgan entered with two hospital security officers behind her.
“Step away from my patient. Now.”
One officer removed the damaged monitor from Evelyn’s hands. The second positioned himself between my family and the bed.
Richard moved away from the doorway window as though he had never been blocking it.
Mother pointed toward me.
“She attacked me first.”
Dr. Morgan looked at the cut on my forehead, the damaged equipment, and the papers scattered across my gown.
“Maya, can you understand me?”
I nodded.
“Did anyone in this room strike you?”
“My mother.”
Evelyn’s voice sharpened.
“She is medicated and confused.”
“I am her physician,” Dr. Morgan said. “You are not.”
Connor started toward the legal folder.
Dr. Morgan took it before he reached the bed.
“Do not touch anything.”
Richard attempted a calm smile.
“This is a private family disagreement.”
“You are standing in a hospital room containing damaged medical equipment and an injured patient.”
“No one intended for this to happen.”
Dr. Morgan turned toward the nurse station tablet mounted outside my room.
A red indicator showed that the security camera had been recording since my family entered.
The camera existed because I had previously collapsed during dialysis. It allowed nurses to monitor movement near my lines without filming the bathroom area.
Dr. Morgan displayed a frozen frame.
Evelyn held the monitor above her shoulder.
Richard stood directly in front of the hallway window.
Connor watched beside the bed.
My father’s face went gray.
“You said there were no cameras,” he whispered to Evelyn.
Mother stared at the device.
“I did not know.”
“That is not a defense,” Dr. Morgan said.
Security guided Evelyn away from the bed.
She resisted only once, pulling her arm toward her handbag.
An officer secured the bag without opening it and placed it beyond her reach until police arrived.
Richard remained near the wall.
“I was trying to calm everyone.”
“You blocked the only window through which staff could see the room,” Dr. Morgan said.
“I panicked.”
“So did your daughter.”
Connor reached for his phone.
Dr. Morgan stopped him.
“You may contact an attorney after security identifies you. You are not photographing my patient.”
I removed one side of the oxygen mask.
Every breath hurt.
“Check Connor’s accounts.”
He froze.
“What are you talking about?”
“He already took money before.”
Mother turned toward him.
“You told me she never noticed.”
The sentence escaped before Evelyn understood what she had revealed.
Connor stared at her.
“Why would you say that?”
I pressed the panic button again.
“That signal also activated the emergency protocol on my accessibility phone.”
Richard looked toward the pillow.
Months earlier, after suspicious login attempts, my attorney and bank had created a security procedure. If my medical emergency contact received a hospital panic alert, disputed transfers from my savings account would be paused until I confirmed them in person.
“My quarter million dollars is frozen,” I said. “None of you can move it.”
Connor’s arrogance collapsed.
Police radios sounded in the corridor.
My mother looked at me as though I had betrayed her.
“You would destroy your brother’s future?”
I replaced the oxygen mask.
“No.”
My eyes remained fixed on hers.
May you like
“I finally stopped letting him destroy mine.”
Continue to the next part: Police discover notarized documents inside Evelyn’s handbag, but the notary named on them insists Maya never appeared before her.
