Chapter 5: The Signature That Wasn’t Mine
At nine the next morning, we sat before the hospital review committee.
Dr.
Pike arrived with the hospital attorney and dropped a thick file onto the table.
“This family is being manipulated,” he said.
“Walter Hayes paid for the trip to pressure a vulnerable child.”
Walter did not look away.
“I paid for two tickets because no one would return my calls.”
“You concealed your identity.”
“I feared Daniel would refuse to let me see Ethan.”
“You were right,” I said.
“But that doesn’t explain a forged signature.”
The attorney raised one hand.
“Mr.
Carter, that accusation has not been established.”
Lena stepped forward.
“I saw Dr.
Pike sign the release restriction.”
Dr.
Pike gave a thin smile.
“A nurse saw me initial a routing form.
She misunderstood.”
“I didn’t misunderstand,” Lena replied.
“You told the lab clerk Mr.
Carter had given verbal permission.”
“Do you have a recording?”
“No.”
“Then you have a frightened memory and a grudge over a rejected promotion.”
Lena’s mouth opened, but no words came.
Dr.
Pike turned to the committee chairman.
“Until guardianship and consent are clarified, Ethan should remain under my treatment.
No external transfer should occur.”
The chairman glanced at the attorney.
“We may need forty-eight hours.”
“Ethan may not have forty-eight hours,” Dr.
Shaw said from the tablet.
Dr.
Pike slid a consent form across the table.
“Mr.
Carter authorized Ethan’s enrollment in my treatment study.
An outside specialist could compromise both his safety and the data.”
I stared at the signature.
It looked more convincing than the one on the archive slip.
“I signed a standard treatment form,” I said.
“Not this.”
The attorney placed a second page beside it.
“The witness line was signed by the social worker who arranged Ethan’s trip.”
My throat tightened.
“Call her.”
“She is on leave,” Dr.
Pike replied.
“And cannot be reached.”
For one terrible moment, every piece of paper seemed to belong to him.
The chairman closed the folder and ordered Ethan’s transfer request paused.
Walter struck the table with his palm.
“You’re protecting a study, not a child.”
“I’m protecting Ethan from a wealthy stranger buying his way into a family,” Dr.
Pike said.
The door opened behind us.
A gray-haired woman entered carrying a storage box.
I recognized Ms.
Doyle from the billing office.
She had called me every week about Ethan’s unpaid balance.
Dr.
Pike stood.
“This meeting is confidential.”
“So are altered billing records,” Ms.
Doyle replied.
She placed the box before me.
“You told me I had ten days to pay,” I said.
“I did.
I was following orders, and I was wrong.”
She removed a set of invoices.
Each showed charges to a research grant under Ethan’s patient number.
“Dr.
Pike’s study paid the hospital for every week Ethan remained enrolled,” she said.
“Your account was still billed for portions the grant had already covered.”
The attorney’s face hardened.
“Are you alleging double billing?”
“I’m showing you double billing.”
Dr.
Pike pushed back his chair.
“These documents were obtained illegally.”
“No,” Ms.
Doyle said.
“I’m the compliance director.
You just never bothered to learn my title.”
Walter gave a short, broken laugh.
Ms.
Doyle placed another envelope in Ethan’s hands.
“This came from the social worker before she went on leave.”
Ethan opened it and unfolded a copy of his mother’s letter.
One sentence had been underlined in red.
“Read it aloud,” I said.
His voice shook.
“Daniel must never learn what I did to protect Ethan from my father.”
Walter’s face went white.
I turned toward him.
“What did Sarah do?”
