Chapter 8 - The Safe

Our family safe was hidden behind a painting in my study.
Six-digit code.
Vanessa and I both knew it.
Inside should have been my original medical records.
They were still there.
At first.
Then I compared them with copies from my cardiologist.
Several pages had been replaced.
My actual discharge summary read:
Excellent recovery. No functional limitations.
The page inside the safe read:
Ongoing fatigue reported. Continued monitoring advised.
Similar.
Believable.
False.
Three other pages had been altered.
Not dramatically.
That was what made them dangerous.
A phrase changed here.
A recommendation softened there.
A note about anxiety inserted.
Someone was building ambiguity.
My cardiologist, Dr. Meera Shah, was furious when I showed her.
“I did not write these.”
“Could someone mistake them for authentic?”
“They copied our formatting.”
“Would you testify?”
“Absolutely.”
Then she pointed at a footer.
“This is strange.”
“What?”
“Our hospital stopped using this document template four years ago.”
“So whoever created this—”
“Used an old sample.”
That meant the forged records probably came from someone who had previously possessed older hospital documents.
Vanessa had worked in healthcare administration before we met.
But not at Dr. Shah’s hospital.
May you like
Someone else had helped her.
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