Chapter 4 - The Nurse Who DisappearedThe gun never fired.
A bell rang.
The man flinched.
Mrs. Dalton pulled me through a narrow passage behind the altar.
We ran.
I didn't know the tunnel existed.
Terrence had never mentioned it.
We emerged behind the old greenhouse, soaked and breathless.
The stranger disappeared before the police arrived.
But he left something behind.
A silver lighter.
Caldwell crest engraved on the side.
I recognized it immediately.
I had seen it in Beatrice’s study.
The police took the lighter.
Mr. Vale took the photograph.
And I went looking for Grace.
She was gone.
Her apartment had been abandoned.
Her phone disconnected.
Her landlord said she had paid six months in advance and disappeared two days before Terrence died.
That was enough for me.
Someone was cleaning up witnesses.
Three days later, I found her.
Not through the police.
Through a hospital billing record Terrence had quietly obtained.
Grace had rented a room under her middle name in a coastal town six hours away.
When I knocked on the door, she almost slammed it in my face.
“Elise?”
“Please.”
Her eyes filled instantly.
“You shouldn't have come.”
“Did you give Terrence something?”
She looked down.
“Medicine.”
“What kind?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
She whispered:
“Something for pain.”
“Who brought it?”
Grace shook her head.
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“No, you don't understand.”
She reached for the door.
I stopped it.
“Grace, my husband is dead.”
Her face collapsed.
“I know.”
“Then help me understand why.”
She stared at me for a long moment.
Finally she stepped aside.
Inside the room was a suitcase.
Packed.
Ready.
“I was told Terrence had requested a private medication order.”
“By whom?”
“A man named Victor.”
My heartbeat changed.
“Victor what?”
“Raine.”
I knew that name.
Victor Raine was Caldwell Holdings' chief financial officer.
One of the men Terrence had suspected of stealing company funds.
Grace continued.
“He came to the hospital three times.”
“For Terrence?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell the doctors?”
“Because the medication came with paperwork.”
She handed me a photocopy.
A signature.
Terrence Caldwell.
Only it wasn't his signature.
It was close.
Very close.
Someone had forged his authorization.
Grace began crying.
“I noticed the discrepancy after he died.”
“And then?”
“Then someone called me.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“A woman.”
“Beatrice?”
“No.”
“Vanessa?”
Grace looked at me.
Then said the words that made my blood run cold.
“She sounded exactly like you.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“She knew things only you should have known.”
My mind raced.
Someone had impersonated me.
Someone had accessed Terrence’s hospital information.
Someone had used my identity to authorize the medication.
Then Grace reached into a drawer.
“I kept this.”
She handed me a small plastic vial.
Empty.
Label torn away.
Under ultraviolet light, Mr. Vale later found a serial number.
The medication had been shipped from a private clinic.
Owned by Victor Raine.
That same night, Victor vanished.
And before he disappeared, he sent Mr. Vale one message.
Ask Elise what Terrence buried beneath the blue roses.
I had no idea what he meant.
Then I remembered our garden.
The blue roses Terrence had planted the spring before he died.
There were exactly twelve.
Eleven were still alive.
May you like
The twelfth had died suddenly.
And beneath it was freshly turned earth.
Related Stories
