Chapter 2 - Room 314Roman had not entered Room 314 in eleven years.
He remembered the smell.
Cheap carpet.
Burnt coffee.
Rain against the window.
And blood.
He stood inside the old motel room just before midnight, while Marcus searched every inch of it.
Sophia remained in the hallway with Gabriel.
Roman didn't want her inside.
He didn't know why.
Perhaps because some places should remain buried.
Marcus opened a drawer.
“Nothing.”
Roman walked toward the bed.
His eyes moved over the room.
A cracked lamp.
A television from another decade.
A faded painting.
Then his gaze stopped.
The painting was crooked.
He pulled it from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow metal box.
Marcus stared.
“How did you know?”
“I didn't.”
Roman opened it.
Inside was a flash drive.
A photograph.
And a hospital bracelet.
The name printed on the bracelet was Vincent Callaway.
Roman's heartbeat slammed against his ribs.
“That's impossible.”
Marcus picked up the photograph.
Three men stood outside a hospital.
Roman recognized himself.
He recognized Vincent.
The third man was Daniel.
Sophia's supposed lover.
Roman slowly took the photograph.
There was writing across the bottom.
ONLY ONE OF THEM LEFT THAT HOSPITAL ALIVE.
Marcus frowned.
“Sir, according to the official records, Vincent died at Mercy General.”
Roman nodded.
“I know.”
“Then why is his bracelet here?”
Roman didn't answer.
Because the question wasn't why the bracelet existed.
It was why Vincent's name had been attached to it.
A sound came from the hallway.
A floorboard creaked.
Roman looked toward the doorway.
“Marcus.”
The security chief drew his weapon.
The hallway was empty.
Sophia was gone.
Roman's blood turned cold.
“Where is she?”
Marcus stared at the empty corridor.
“She was right there.”
Roman ran.
He found the stairwell door swinging open.
Sophia was halfway down the stairs.
Gabriel was in her arms.
“Stop!”
She looked back.
“Don't come closer!”
Roman froze.
Sophia's eyes were wild.
“I saw him.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
Roman's expression hardened.
“Where?”
“He was standing behind you.”
Marcus immediately checked the hallway.
Nothing.
Sophia whispered, “I saw his face.”
Roman descended one step.
“Daniel is dead.”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“I watched him die.”
Roman stopped.
“What did you say?”
Sophia hugged Gabriel tighter.
“I watched Daniel die.”
Roman's mind raced.
“Then how did you see him?”
“I don't know.”
She pulled a folded paper from her coat.
“I found this at the hospital.”
Roman opened it.
It was a medical transfer document.
Patient.
Daniel Hale.
Date of admission.
Eleven years ago.
Roman looked at the date.
The same night Vincent died.
His eyes narrowed.
“Why would Daniel be in the same hospital as my brother?”
Sophia swallowed.
“Because Daniel wasn't Daniel.”
Roman stared at her.
“What?”
She lowered her voice.
“He told me his real name once.”
Roman waited.
Sophia whispered:
“Vincent.”
The building seemed to go silent.
Roman looked at Gabriel.
Then at Sophia.
Then at the document.
Suddenly his brother's voice from the phone came back to him.
Hello, brother.
May you like
Roman clenched his fist.
“Then who was buried eleven years ago?”
