CHAPTER 4: THE WOMAN WHO SAW EVERYTHING
The door slammed against the wall.
Dr. Porter screamed.
I instinctively grabbed her and pulled her backward.
A shadow moved across the shattered doorway.
Then someone shouted from outside.
“POLICE!”
I froze.
Another voice followed.
“Drop your weapon!”
Mark stepped into view.
His hands were raised.
There was no weapon.
Two uniformed officers rushed past him and into the house.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Mark looked directly at me.
His expression was calm.
Far too calm.
“I've been looking everywhere for you,” he said.
I stared at him.
“Where is Daniel?”
He smiled faintly.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Your mother has him.”
I took a step toward him.
An officer blocked me.
“Stay back.”
I looked at Mark.
“You abducted my brother.”
Mark's face hardened.
“Daniel is unstable.”
“He told the hospital you hurt him.”
“He attacked me.”
“Those bruises were fingerprints.”
“He fights when he's frightened.”
“You planned the attack.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You're making dangerous accusations.”
Then Dr. Porter spoke.
“He's lying.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Mark's expression changed.
For the first time, I saw something real in his eyes.
Fear.
“You remember me,” Dr. Porter said.
Mark stared at her.
“You were there that night.”
He said nothing.
“You were wearing a nurse's uniform.”
One of the officers looked at Mark.
“What night?”
Dr. Porter pointed toward him.
“The night David died.”
Mark's jaw tightened.
“I was working that shift.”
“You told the family you were a doctor.”
“I never said that.”
“You signed medication orders.”
“I was following instructions.”
“You had no authority to change them.”
Mark stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
The officer moved between us.
“Everyone stays where they are.”
I looked at Dr. Porter.
“You said someone else saw what Mark did.”
She nodded.
“Who?”
She looked toward the broken doorway.
“A nurse named Sarah Bell.”
Mark suddenly laughed.
“Sarah?”
Dr. Porter frowned.
“What?”
“She died.”
The room went silent.
“When?” I asked.
“Two years ago.”
Mark smiled.
“She can't help you.”
Dr. Porter looked confused.
“I spoke to her last year.”
Mark's smile disappeared.
“That's impossible.”
I noticed it.
That tiny reaction.
The moment he realized he had said too much.
I looked at the officers.
“He knew she was dead.”
One officer looked at him.
“How?”
Mark didn't answer.
The other officer pulled out his radio.
“Run Sarah Bell through records.”
Mark stepped backward.
“This is ridiculous.”
But his voice had changed.
The confidence was gone.
I looked down at the envelope Dr. Porter had given me.
Dad's handwriting.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, ASK DANIEL.
I pulled the photograph from the envelope.
Mark saw it.
His face went completely white.
“You shouldn't have that.”
I held it up.
“You recognize it.”
“No.”
“You just said I shouldn't have it.”
He stared at the photograph.
Then at me.
“You have no idea what your father was involved in.”
“What was he involved in?”
“Something that got people killed.”
My heart stopped.
“What people?”
Mark said nothing.
The officer grabbed his arm.
“Enough.”
Mark suddenly looked at me.
“Ask your mother.”
Then he was handcuffed.
But before the officers took him away, he leaned close.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Your father didn't trust Daniel.”
I froze.
“What?”
Mark smiled.
“He was afraid of him.”
Then he was gone.
I turned toward Dr. Porter.
“Is that true?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“You hesitated.”
“Because I was remembering.”
“What?”
She looked at the photograph.
“Your father didn't fear Daniel.”
She paused.
“He feared what Daniel remembered.”
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
“Are you David's son?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Sarah.”
My blood froze.
“Sarah Bell?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Dr. Porter.
She was staring at me.
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother knows I'm alive.”
I gripped the phone.
“How?”
“Because she came looking for me.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
“Why?”
The woman breathed heavily.
“She wanted to know if I still had the recording.”
“What recording?”
“The night your father died.”
My entire body went cold.
“You recorded it?”
“Yes.”
“What did you record?”
There was silence.
Then Sarah whispered:
“Your father was awake.”
I closed my eyes.
“What did he say?”
“He told me someone was trying to kill him.”
“Who?”
“He didn't know the name.”
“Then how can you prove it?”
“He gave me something.”
“What?”
“A medication vial.”
My heart began pounding.
“Do you still have it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I'll meet you.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
“No. Tonight.”
“No.”
“Sarah, please.”
“If your mother realizes you found me, you won't live long enough to see tomorrow.”
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone.
Dr. Porter walked toward me.
“What happened?”
I told her.
She went pale.
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Sarah wouldn't say that unless she's terrified.”
I looked through the broken doorway.
Police lights flashed outside.
Then I noticed something.
A black SUV was parked farther down the road.
It wasn't Mark's.
Another vehicle.
Someone was sitting inside.
Watching the house.
I pointed.
“Who is that?”
Dr. Porter looked.
Her face changed.
“That's not police.”
The SUV's headlights turned on.
It started moving.
I ran outside.
“Stop!”
The vehicle accelerated.
I sprinted toward the road.
The SUV disappeared around the corner.
I returned to the house.
Dr. Porter was standing beside the broken doorway.
She was holding something.
A small black object.
“What is that?”
She handed it to me.
“A recording device.”
I looked at her.
“Where did you find it?”
“Under the floorboard.”
My hands tightened around it.
“Does it work?”
“I don't know.”
I pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then a voice.
My father's voice.
Weak.
Breathing heavily.
“Sarah... if you're recording this...”
I froze.
Dr. Porter covered her mouth.
Dad continued.
“...don't trust my wife.”
My heart stopped.
Then another voice entered the recording.
A woman's voice.
My mother's.
“David, you need to take your medication.”
Dad coughed.
“I know what you're doing.”
My mother's voice became colder.
“You don't.”
“I know about the trust.”
Silence.
Then Dad said something that made my blood run cold.
“And I know what you did to the first dose.”
The recording suddenly ended.
I stared at Dr. Porter.
“What was the first dose?”
She didn't answer.
I pressed play again.
Nothing.
The file was damaged.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message.
From Daniel.
I opened it.
There was a photograph.
Daniel was sitting in the back seat of a car.
His face was bruised.
His hands were tied.
And behind him was my mother.
But Daniel wasn't looking at the camera.
He was looking at something beside it.
A second person.
The photograph had one sentence underneath.
HE'S NOT ALONE.
I zoomed in.
A man's reflection appeared in the car window.
I recognized him immediately.
Not Mark.
Not anyone I had seen before.
It was the man standing beside my father in another photograph.
The man my father had mentioned in his final recording.
The man who had apparently been helping my mother.
And beneath the photograph, Daniel had typed four words.
HE WAS THERE TOO.
I stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
DAD DIDN'T DIE ALONE.
May you like
The next message never arrived.
Because Daniel's phone suddenly went offline.
