Marcus arrived less than ten minutes later, still wearing surgical scrubs beneath his white coat. The moment he saw the open drawer, his expression changed. I asked only one question: “Who is Isabelle?” He closed the office door and told me she was “someone helping with a sensitive matter.” Then I asked why she had his missing badge and why she had removed the L. Marsh incident file. That was when he stopped pretending this was ordinary.

The patient, Lena Marsh, had experienced serious complications after surgery months earlier. Marcus had been involved in the case, and an internal review was still underway. Isabelle was not his wife, but she was far from a stranger. She worked in hospital administration at another facility, and Marcus admitted they had been having an affair. Worse, messages later reviewed through the hospital’s formal process raised questions about whether he had asked her to retrieve documents he feared might damage his position during the investigation.