The Perfect Family

Covered

"The victim's name is Stella Bennett.  She is thirty two years old, and was presumed to be dead by the police over ten years ago after disappearing from a terrible crime scene.  She aided and abetted one of her patients from the Painted Sentiments Mental Institution, a man by the name of Vincent Graves, in escaping, as well as kidnapping and homicide. 

"From what we know so far, she changed her name to Hilda Stevenson, and assumed a position at the general hospital.  She leaves behind a daughter, Matilda Stevenson, who is assumed to have been abducted by whoever committed this murder."

The captain looked around at her team. None of them said a word so she continued, "My forensics team, I want this house swept inside and out for fingerprints, hair follicles, and anything else that will lead us to the perpetrator.  Make sure that you leave absolutely no stone unturned. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Captain."  The three forensics officers said.

The captain waited until everyone dispersed before taking a seat on the couch, sighing heavily as she wiped the sweat from her brow.   Archer took a seat next to her and handed her a small bottle of water, which she gratefully accepted.  "I know what you're thinking, Amy, but it's impossible.  Graves is dead."

"How could I have been so blind?" Her voice was calm for a moment, then she slammed her fist on the glass coffee table in front of her, shattering it.

She stared down at her bloody hand and sighed.

Archer quickly ran to the kitchen and returned with a dish towel, wrapping it around the wound. "You can't blame yourself. How could you have known-"

"I should have kept searching for her." Amy Frost lamented, "She was right under my fucking nose."

"Everyone thought she was dead.  How could you have known that she was still alive, much less known that she was posing as a doctor?"

"I should have kept searching."  She repeated, shaking her head with a frown.

"We were all ordered to drop the search. It's not your fault. You were obeying orders."

Amy picked up the framed picture of the missing child. "This little girl is in danger because I followed those orders. She could already be dead or worse-"

"You can't think like that. She may still be alive."

"Let's hope so, Archer." She stood up and brushed the dust from her black slacks. "Why don't we take a trip to the hospital and see if we can make sense of all this? Because if my instincts are correct-"

"Graves is dead." Vanessa repeated, "The guy was in a coma. His chances of survival were slim to none."

"I suppose you're right." Amy said, though the bad feeling inside of her stomach refused to subside.

They arrived at the hospital thirty minutes later and proceeded to talk to each of the doctors.  Most of them spoke of Hilda Stevenson like she was sent straight from heaven, saying that she had saved many lives and was one of the best doctors this county ever had.  They refused to believe that she was not who she said she was, and were each broken up by the news of her grizzly murder. 

Amy listened to all of their testimonies patiently before asking the chief physician of the hospital if she could see the death certificate of Vincent Graves, to which he refused for privacy reasons. 

But she could tell that there was more to the story than that by the way he began sweating. 

"Doctor Burman, I can have a warrant sent here in less than ten minutes.  Do you really want to do this the hard way?  Because if I have to get a warrant, I will search every nook and cranny of this hospital."

"No!"  The doctor cleared his throat and took a long sip of water.  He used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his head and sighed heavily.  "Alright, you may see the certificate, but there is something you must know, something that this hospital has been covering up for several months."

Amy's eyebrows raised.  "I'm listening."

The doctor laid his head in his hands.  "The body of Vincent Graves went missing from the morgue the night he was declared dead.  The hospital couldn't afford another scandal, so we swept the whole thing under the rug.  Mr. Graves didn't have any family that we knew of.  We didn't think it would matter."

"Did you even question the staff about it?"

"No.  We didn't want them to know."

"How do you even know that Graves was dead?"

"One of the nurses found him lying dead in his bed.  She summoned Dr. Hilda Stevenson and the death certificate was signed."

Amy and Vanessa glanced at each other.  The doctor stood from his chair and clasped Amy by the arms, his dark eyes filled with desperation.  "Please, try to understand why we kept silent!  We would have been shut down if the authorities found out!"

"Did you know that 'Hilda Stevenson' was involved in his disappearance?"  Vanessa asked.

"We suspected that she and one of our custodians may have had something to do with it, but she was such a great doctor that I didn't want to-"

"Where is this custodian?" Vanessa interrupted.

The color fled from the doctor's face and more beads of sweat poured down. "He's dead."

Amy growled and slammed her fist into his wall, causing him to jump. "This hospital is a disgrace! I am going to make sure everyone involved in this cover up pays for what they have done."

"No, please!"

She walked out of his office before her temper was unleashed on him.  She and Archer went back down to the parking garage and climbed into her car.

Archer leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, nausea swarming in her stomach.  "Maybe there is still a chance that Graves is dead."  She said, though she didn't believe it.  "Stella may have just wanted his body as some sort of sick souvenir."

"I wish that were the case, Vanessa.  But you and I both know that he's out there."

"You don't think he would..." Archer opened her eyes and looked out of the window.  "....be stupid enough to go after Emily and her daughter again, do you?"

"I don't know.  But I think it would be wise to call the police in Rockport and ask them to send an officer to her house to make sure she's okay."

"Shouldn't you call her yourself?"

"We don't know for certain that he is alive, and I don't want to frighten her for no reason. She may still be dealing with the trauma of what he put her through before. Besides, my main concern at this time is for Matilda. She's the only victim in our jurisdiction, so she's the only one I can really help."

"Yeah, but-"

"I know. The whole damn thing sucks." Amy started the car and pulled out of the garage. "If he really is out there, there's no telling what kind of havoc he is wreaking at this very moment."