Chapter 5 - THE DEBT THAT NEVER EXISTED
I woke in a hospital.
For three seconds, I thought the previous night had been a nightmare.
Then I saw Arthur standing by the window with two armed guards.
The nightmare returned.
“You're alive,” he said.
“So are you.”
He almost smiled.
“Barely.”
I sat up.
“What happened?”
“Explosion.”
“Evelyn?”
“Alive.”
“Daniel?”
Arthur hesitated.
“Missing.”
My heart sank.
Arthur noticed.
“You trusted him.”
“I barely knew him.”
“He knew your father.”
“So did you.”
Arthur went silent.
That was the problem.
Every answer led back to him.
A nurse entered.
“Miss Hayes, someone is here to see you.”
“I don't want visitors.”
“He says he knew your father.”
Arthur's head snapped toward the door.
“Who?”
The nurse looked nervous.
“Dr. Leonard Voss.”
Arthur's hand moved toward his gun.
I stood.
“Let him in.”
Arthur blocked the doorway.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he's the reason your father died.”
Voss walked in anyway.
An elderly man in a gray coat.
No bodyguards.
No fear.
He looked at me.
“I owe your father an apology.”
Arthur pointed his gun.
“Get out.”
Voss ignored him.
“Your father was not sick.”
My breath stopped.
“What?”
“He had no heart condition.”
I felt the room tilt.
“I saw his records.”
“They were falsified.”
“By you?”
“Yes.”
Arthur's face darkened.
“Why?”
“Because I was threatened.”
“By Gabriel?”
“No.”
Voss looked at Arthur.
“By the people behind him.”
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Voss swallowed.
“They are still alive.”
I stepped toward him.
“Why was my father murdered?”
“Because he discovered the ledger.”
I held up the memory card.
“He left this.”
Voss shook his head.
“That is only part of it.”
“What else?”
“The original ledger.”
Arthur stiffened.
“Where?”
Voss looked at me.
“With your father's debt records.”
I frowned.
“My father's hospital debt?”
“Yes.”
“They were real.”
“No.”
The doctor reached into his coat.
He handed me a folder.
“Read the first page.”
I opened it.
My father's supposed debt.
Every medication.
Every procedure.
Every charge.
Total amount.
Then I noticed the signature.
My father's.
I stared at it.
“It isn't his handwriting.”
Arthur leaned closer.
“Forgery.”
Voss nodded.
“The debt was created after his death.”
My stomach turned.
“Why?”
“To make you desperate.”
Arthur looked at me.
“They wanted you here.”
The room went silent.
I whispered, “What?”
Voss looked ashamed.
“Your job at the Costello estate wasn't an accident.”
I felt cold.
“I applied here.”
“Yes.”
“The agency sent me.”
“No.”
Voss lowered his voice.
“Someone created the job posting.”
Arthur turned toward his guards.
“Who runs the staffing agency?”
One guard answered.
“Margaret Doyle.”
Arthur's face went blank.
“Margaret is dead.”
Voss whispered,
“She isn't.”
I stared at Arthur.
“Then who hired me?”
Arthur didn't answer.
The lights went out.
A gunshot shattered the window.
Voss dropped.
Arthur tackled me to the floor.
Glass rained over us.
When the emergency lights came on, Voss was gone.
Not dead.
Gone.
Only a pool of blood remained.
Arthur stared at it.
Then he looked at me.
“Norah.”
“What?”
“You need to hear this once.”
He reached into his pocket.
A voicemail was waiting.
He pressed play.
My father's voice filled the dark room.
“Arthur, if they used my daughter to get to you, then we've already lost.”
The message ended.
Then a second voice whispered over the recording.
May you like
A woman's voice.
“You're next, Norah.”
