Chapter 5 - The Trap is Set
By afternoon, the investigation yielded its first major breakthrough, but it only deepened the mystery.
Detective Vance called me into the hallway outside the NICU while Ethan was resting with Laura in her recovery room.
“We found the owner of the gray jumpsuit,” Vance said, holding a printed police report. “His name is Marcus Cole. He’s a senior electrical contractor employed by Apex Engineering. He signed into the hospital basement service entrance at 1:15 AM last night.”
“Have you arrested him?” I demanded.
“We went to his apartment in South Boston an hour ago,” Vance replied, his jaw tight. “The place was empty. He cleared out his bank accounts yesterday afternoon, packed a bag, and vanished. His landlord said he hadn't been seen since last night.”
“So he’s on the run,” I said, feeling a chill run down my spine. “Why would a contractor run just for tampering with an outlet? That’s barely a misdemeanor unless... unless it was connected to something much bigger.”
Vance nodded slowly. “That’s what we thought. So we pulled Apex Engineering’s financial audits for the past six months. Turns out, St. Anne Medical Center recently commissioned an independent safety review of their entire electrical infrastructure following a series of mysterious equipment malfunctions in the pediatric wing.”
My eyes widened. “Malfunctions?”
“That’s right,” Vance confirmed. “And who was the lead contractor certified to inspect those specific machines? Marcus Cole. If an independent auditor discovered that Cole had been installing faulty, substandard replacement parts to pocket the budget difference, his entire career—and his freedom—would be finished. Fraud, negligence, and potentially dozens of compromised medical devices.”
The puzzle pieces suddenly snapped together with terrifying clarity.
Sophie’s incubator wasn't targeted because of Sophie. It was targeted because her machine was part of the audit batch. Cole had realized that hospital staff were testing the specific circuit logs that morning, and he had sneaked into the NICU in the middle of the night to destroy the evidence before the inspectors could examine the unit.
He didn't care about the baby inside. He only cared about covering his tracks.
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“He’s going to try to finish it,” I realized, my blood running cold. “If he thinks there are other tampered units still active in the hospital—”
“He knows there are,” Vance interrupted grimly. “And that’s why we aren't going to wait for him to come back on his own terms. We’re going to set a trap.”
