Chapter 7 - The Fifteen-Minute GapThomas Didn't Die Where They Said He Did
I couldn't move.
The sentence replayed inside my head.
What they put inside your body.
Mara approached slowly.
“There's something you need to know.”
I laughed.
It wasn't a happy sound.
“That's becoming everyone's favorite sentence.”
She looked down.
“Thomas called me the night of the crash.”
“You said that.”
“I didn't tell you everything.”
“What did he say?”
“He said you'd forget.”
“Forget what?”
“The truth about the accident.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“He believed they had given you a drug.”
“Memory suppression.”
She nodded.
“And he was afraid you would wake up believing the official story.”
I remembered the hospital.
The doctors.
The police.
My uncle.
The endless repetition.
Brake failure.
Rain.
Unavoidable.
Fifteen minutes.
There was a fifteen-minute gap in the medical records from the crash site to the hospital.
I had always assumed it was paperwork.
Now I knew better.
“Where was Thomas during those fifteen minutes?”
Mara looked at Vince.
Vince answered.
“Not in the car.”
My heart began pounding.
“Then where?”
“The ambulance report was falsified.”
I grabbed his collar.
“Where was he?”
“East service road.”
“Why?”
“He was moved.”
“By whom?”
Vince's eyes met mine.
“Richard.”
I let go.
The room seemed too small.
My uncle had been there.
The entire time.
Mara opened the flash drive.
“There are GPS coordinates.”
She pointed.
A private medical facility thirty-two miles from Hollow Pine.
A facility owned by a company under Richard's name.
“Let's go.”
Vince blocked me.
“Absolutely not.”
“I didn't ask.”
“You don't know what's waiting.”
“That is exactly why I'm going.”
Mara grabbed my arm.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You need someone who understands what was done to you.”
“You're a nursing student.”
“I was.”
She stepped closer.
“And Daniel taught me more in six months than school taught me in four years.”
I hesitated.
Then Ruth said:
“Take her.”
I looked at Ruth.
“Why?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because Thomas chose her for a reason.”
The medical facility was abandoned.
At least officially.
The front gate hung open.
Inside, every room had been stripped.
No beds.
No equipment.
Nothing.
Except one.
At the end of the hallway stood a single chair.
Tied to it was a man.
Alive.
Barely.
Vince rushed toward him.
“Jesus.”
The man opened his eyes.
He looked at me.
Then Mara.
Then whispered:
“Thomas?”
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“I'm his brother.”
The man smiled.
“Then you're late.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone your brother couldn't save.”
His gaze moved to Mara.
“She wasn't supposed to survive either.”
Mara went pale.
“What happened?”
The man coughed.
“Richard came here twelve hours ago.”
“Why?”
“He was looking for the key.”
I held up the brass key.
The man's eyes widened.
“You found it.”
“What does it open?”
He smiled.
“The vault.”
“What vault?”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“The one Thomas died trying to protect.”
Then the facility lights came on.
May you like
Every door locked at once.
And someone started clapping slowly from the hallway.
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