Chapter 194: Amara Discharge’s News
"How are you doing," said Sean. "Not the investigation. You."
A pause. The specific pause of Max encountering a question he wasn’t prepared for.
"Amara’s discharge is confirmed for tomorrow," said Max. "The final blood results came back this morning. The doctor said everything is exactly where it should be." His voice had the particular quality it had in the hospital waiting room when the surgery news arrived, the same thing underneath the professional flatness. "She’s been reorganizing her hospital room since six AM. The nurses have stopped trying to suggest she rest."
"Restaurant is still seven thirty," said Sean.
"She has reviewed the menu four more times since Sunday," said Max. "She now has opinions about the cheese course that she’s communicated to me in significant detail."
"What kind of opinions," said Sean.
"That life is short and the cheese course should be taken seriously," said Max. "Her exact words."
Sean smiled. "Tell her I agree completely."
"She’ll add it to the section," said Max.
"Three days," said Sean. "On the full picture."
"Three days," Max confirmed. "I have the hospital data angle to work through and two more shell entities to trace before I’m confident I have the complete chain." A pause. "Sean."
"Yeah."
"The Lockhart connection," said Max. "I’ve been sitting with it. The director I found who links Cole’s operation to the old Harlan Cross network. I think I know how to identify who that person is above Cole. The one Diana Osei is afraid of."
"How," said Sean.
"The property holding entity that connects them has filed development permits in three of the four cities where the operation runs," said Max. "Development permits are public record. The applicant’s representative is listed on each one. The same representative across all three cities."
"The same person," said Sean.
"The same law firm," said Max. "Which is either a coincidence or the firm is doing work for both the legitimate property side and the operation side because they’re not actually separate."
"Find the firm," said Sean.
"Already working on it," said Max.
Sean ended the call and stood at the window for another moment.
Soo-Jin had a cleared debt and a message in her school email and a test on Wednesday.
That was enough for today.
—------
Monday Evening
Makima had made something with chicken and roasted vegetables, the same care she brought to everything in her kitchen, the apartment warm and smelling like something that had been given proper time.
Sean ate and told her about Soo-Jin’s debt being cleared and Max’s progress on the firm connection and the three day timeline.
Makima listened the way she always listened, without interrupting, her hands around her wine glass, giving things the space they needed.
When he finished she was quiet for a moment.
"The seventeen year old," she said. "She checked her school email tonight presumably."
"Presumably," said Sean.
"And she read seven sentences that told her something changed," said Makima.
"Yes," said Sean.
Makima looked at her wine. "I’ve been thinking about something since you told me about this last night."
"What," said Sean.
"The hospital connection," said Makima. "The east side hospital. Patient data feeding the recruitment." She held his gaze. "If that’s real it means someone at the hospital is involved. Not necessarily someone senior. Could be someone with access to patient records at any level." She paused. "It also means they’ve been doing this long enough and confidently enough to build a data pipeline into a medical institution."
"Which tells us something about how established the operation is," said Sean.
"It tells us something about how protected they think they are," said Makima. "Operations that reach into hospitals don’t do that unless they have reason to believe nobody is looking." She held his gaze. "Which means they’ve been operating successfully for long enough that they’ve become confident."
Sean looked at her.
"You’ve been thinking about this all day," he said.
"I think about things," said Makima simply.
"What else," said Sean.
She looked at her wine. "The girls in the shared house on Meridian Street," she said. "While you build the full picture and before you can move. They’re still there."
"Yes," said Sean.
"And Mia is in a hotel," said Makima. "Which is safer than Meridian Street but also means she’s alone with whatever she’s carrying." She looked at him. "She’s nineteen."
Sean held her gaze for a moment.
"What are you suggesting," he said.
Makima looked at the table. "I’m not suggesting anything specific. I’m noting that a nineteen year old who has been managing something alone for two months and is now in a hotel room by herself for three days while a plan builds around her is probably not sleeping as well as she seemed to be this morning."
Sean thought about Mia in the lobby chair with the coffee and both hands around it and the alertness of someone who had been awake for a while.
"I’ll check in on her tomorrow," said Sean.
"Good," said Makima.
She stood and began clearing plates with the domestic efficiency he’d come to know and appreciate, and Sean stood to help, and they moved around her kitchen the way they had on so many evenings now, the easy coordination of two people who had stopped needing to negotiate the space.
"Amara’s discharge is tomorrow," he said, drying the first plate.
"I know," said Makima. "Max texted me this afternoon." A pause. "He texted me."
Sean looked at her.
"He wanted to know what I thought Amara might want from the restaurant that she couldn’t get at the hospital," said Makima. "I told him anything that wasn’t from a hospital kitchen. He said that was an unhelpful answer. I said it was the accurate one." She handed him the next plate. "He’s looking forward to tomorrow more than he’s letting himself show."
"He’s been here every day since the surgery," said Sean.
"He reorganized her bookshelf twice," said Makima.
"She told me," said Sean.
"She told everyone," said Makima. "She mentioned it to Dr. Grace who mentioned it to me when I called to confirm the fund reports were still going out to you." She glanced at him. "The ward has opinions about Max."