Chapter 6 - The Secret Investigation That Turned the Hospital Against Its Most Powerful PhysicianThe following morning, Admiral Dunore requested a formal investigation.
He did not announce it publicly.
He knew the evidence was incomplete, and he refused to repeat the mistake of condemning someone before the facts were established.
Special Agent Vale assembled a small investigative team.
Their first objective was to verify the recovered recording.
Their second was to locate the original maintenance records.
Their third was to determine whether the same individuals were involved in current misconduct at Sandpoint.
Paige continued working her assigned shifts.
She refused the admiral's offer of temporary leave.
“I've spent eight years running from this,” she told him. “I'm not running again.”
At the hospital, Hollander's behavior grew increasingly unpredictable.
He stopped speaking to Paige directly.
He issued instructions through other nurses.
He questioned her documentation.
He reassigned her away from critical patients.
Then he filed a complaint alleging that she had created a hostile working environment.
Paige read the complaint twice.
The accusations were vague.
They described her as insubordinate and disruptive.
There were no specific patient-care incidents.
No supporting witness statements.
No dates.
She recognized the strategy immediately.
The complaint was designed to make her defend herself while someone else controlled the narrative.
This time, however, she was not alone.
Dr. Ruiz submitted a written statement.
Dr. Wells provided documentation of the corrected medication order.
Three nurses came forward with reports describing years of intimidation.
A former technician revealed that he had been instructed to alter a maintenance log after a medical equipment malfunction.
Then a records clerk named Rebecca Shaw contacted Vale.
She had worked in the hospital's administrative department for six years.
She claimed Hollander regularly requested access to files unrelated to his patients.
Some involved military personnel who had served in the same operational units as Paige.
Others concerned procurement contracts.
Rebecca agreed to meet investigators.
But before the meeting, she called Paige.
Her voice trembled.
“I think someone knows.”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Are you safe?”
“I don't know.”
Paige heard movement in the background.
A door closing.
Then Rebecca whispered something that made Paige's blood run cold.
“They're asking about Mercer's daughter.”
The call ended.
Paige immediately contacted Vale.
Investigators reached Rebecca's apartment twenty minutes later.
The front door was unlocked.
Her phone lay on the kitchen floor.
Her car was missing.
And on the dining table sat an open folder containing a photograph of a young woman.
Her name was Hannah Mercer.
She was nineteen years old.
She was a nursing student.
And she had recently applied for a clinical placement at Sandpoint Naval Medical Center.
Paige stared at the photograph.
Thomas Mercer had died protecting the truth.
Now his daughter had unknowingly walked into the same institution where one of the men connected to the cover-up held power.
Paige looked at Vale.
“Find her.”
He nodded.
“We will.”
“No,” Paige said.
May you like
Her voice was steady, but her eyes were filled with fear.
“You don't understand. If Hollander knows who she is, she may already be in danger.”
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