Chapter 8 - The Missing WitnessSomeone Inside the Hospital Was Working for Nolan
The hospital became chaos.
Security sealed two floors.
Elevators stopped.
Phones buzzed.
Doors slammed.
Peter Sloan had vanished in less than thirty seconds.
Not walked away.
Not escaped.
Removed.
The agents found the side rail of his bed down and a syringe on the floor.
Sedative.
Reed pulled me into a stairwell.
“Stay with Marcus.”
“I’m not hiding again.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
My voice shook.
“Nolan locked me underground because he thought fear would make me obedient.”
Reed stared at me.
“It didn’t.”
“No.”
I looked at the emergency exit.
“It made me angry.”
We reached the parking garage.
Victor was waiting.
“He’s gone,” he said.
“Who?”
“Peter.”
“I know.”
Victor looked at Reed.
“Did anyone see who took him?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“That means it was someone with hospital access.”
I pulled out my phone.
A new message had arrived.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE WRONG MAN.
Then a photo.
Peter’s hospital bracelet.
And behind it, a handwritten note.
ASK YOUR HUSBAND WHO ATTENDED THE 1998 VALE DINNER.
I showed Victor.
He stared.
“That dinner never existed.”
Reed looked at him.
“Why are you sure?”
“Because my mother destroyed the guest list.”
I looked between them.
“Who was there?”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“Your father.”
“My mother.”
“Eleanor Vale.”
“And?”
He hesitated.
“Nolan’s father.”
I frowned.
“So four people.”
“No.”
Victor looked at me.
“Five.”
“Who was the fifth?”
He said nothing.
Then Reed answered.
“Our mother’s attorney.”
I stared.
“Who?”
“Arthur Vance.”
I remembered the name.
A retired attorney who had appeared at my parents’ house when I was a child.
He had disappeared years later.
“What happened to him?”
Victor said:
“Dead.”
“Everyone connected to this story is either dead or disappearing.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“Except Nolan.”
Victor gave me a cold smile.
“Not for long.”
Reed’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then:
“Send me the address.”
He hung up.
“What?”
“Our family trust records just triggered a security alarm.”
“Where?”
Reed looked at me.
“The cemetery.”
My heart stopped.
“Why would the trust records be in a cemetery?”
Victor answered before Reed could.
“Because your father never trusted banks.”
We drove to the Whitaker family cemetery.
At the edge of the property stood my parents’ mausoleum.
There was a stone panel behind my mother’s memorial.
Reed opened it.
Inside was a metal box.
A sapphire-shaped recess was carved into the lid.
I placed my necklace against it.
The box opened.
Inside lay a single leather ledger.
The Black Ledger.
But it wasn’t alone.
There was also a letter.
I unfolded it.
Camille,
When you discover this, Nolan will probably have told the world you are unstable.
He will probably say you are jealous.
He will probably convince you that everyone is against him because they are against you.
Do not believe him.
The next line made my blood freeze.
The person who will betray Nolan is already standing beside you.
I looked up.
Reed.
Victor.
Marcus.
Three men.
Three possibilities.
Then the cemetery gate slammed shut.
A black SUV rolled across the gravel.
And inside it, sitting in the passenger seat, was Brielle Hart.
She looked terrified.
May you like
She mouthed one word through the windshield.
RUN.
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