Chapter 7 Code Blue

The hospital smelled of antiseptic and death.

Lena paced the waiting room of the ICU with the stolen deed burning a hole in her rain-soaked backpack. Each time the door swung open, her heart leaped, but it never was Ryan's doctor. Just more shell-shocked storm victims. Grim-faced nurses.

And then, she came.

A woman in a tailored black coat, silver streaks in her dark hair, strutted in as if she owned the place. The resemblance was like a mirrored reflection-the same sharp jawline, the same intensity of gaze Ryan used to have when poring over blueprints.

Eleanor Bennett.

Lena jumped to her feet, spilling coffee all over. Ryan's mother had disappeared from his life when he was twelve. One subject he would not discuss.

Eleanor's piercing gaze locked onto Lena. "You are the bookseller." Statement, not a question.

Before Lena could reply, a screeching alarm rang out from Ryan's room.

Code Blue. Code Blue.

Lena's legs seemed to give way. Eleanor held her arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

"Listen to me," hissed the elder woman. "They are going to ask for next of kin. That would be me. And I need you to say-"

The door burst open, and a doctor shouted, "Family of Ryan Bennett?"

Eleanor pushed forward, "I am his mother. Do not let Dr. Kettering touch him."

The doctor flinched. "But he's the best cardiothoracic-"

"He's being paid by Tom Calloway." Eleanor shoved a file into the doctor's hand-medical records showing Ryan had no prior heart conditions. "My son was poisoned. Test his blood for aconite."

Lena's world shrank. Ryan's fishing trip with Tom last month. The "food poisoning" that left him bedridden for days.

The doctor went pale and ran off.

Eleanor turned to Lena, voice cracking. "Now help me save what is left of my family."