Chapter 2 - The ambulance doors slammed shut.Daniel jumped inside.
Claire followed.
The paramedic shouted, “Move!”
The vehicle tore away from the chapel.
Emily lay strapped to the stretcher, oxygen covering half her face.
Her pulse was dangerously weak.
The paramedic squeezed a bag of fluid into her arm.
“Blood pressure is dropping.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Emily.”
No response.
“Emily, please.”
Claire stood near the rear doors.
Her hands were shaking.
Not because Emily was alive.
Because Emily had mentioned the key.
The key nobody knew about.
The brass key Claire had taken from Emily three nights ago.
The key that Emily had given her after whispering one sentence:
“Whatever happens, don't let Daniel find this.”
Claire had spent three days wondering what it opened.
Now she was terrified of finding out.
At the hospital, doctors rushed Emily into emergency treatment.
Daniel tried to follow.
A nurse blocked him.
“Family waits here.”
“I am her husband.”
“We'll come get you.”
The doors closed.
Daniel stood in the hallway soaked from the rain.
Claire sat in a chair nearby.
Neither spoke.
Ten minutes passed.
Twenty.
Then Daniel turned toward her.
“What did Emily mean?”
Claire looked up.
“About what?”
“In the ambulance.”
“She was barely conscious.”
“You heard her.”
Claire said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
“She said you knew where something was hidden.”
“I don't know what she meant.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“You're lying.”
Claire stared at him.
“I have worked for your family for four years.”
“That doesn't answer me.”
“Neither does accusing me.”
Their argument ended when a doctor emerged.
“Mr. Whitmore?”
Daniel rushed forward.
“How is she?”
“She survived the immediate crisis.”
Daniel nearly collapsed with relief.
“But there's a problem.”
His expression changed.
“What problem?”
“She was given a massive dose of a sedative called etomidate mixed with another central nervous system depressant.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
“Could it have killed her?”
The doctor hesitated.
“Yes.”
Claire stood.
“So she was poisoned?”
“That's one possibility.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Who administered it?”
“We can't determine that yet.”
“Her body was certified dead.”
The doctor looked at him.
“That is the strangest part.”
Daniel frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“If she had been examined correctly, this should never have happened.”
Claire stepped forward.
“How long could someone appear dead after receiving those drugs?”
“Long enough for an untrained examiner to make a fatal mistake.”
Daniel stared through the glass doors.
“My wife was pronounced dead yesterday.”
The doctor nodded.
“Then whoever declared her dead failed to identify vital signs.”
Claire's blood ran cold.
“Or they didn't want to.”
The doctor looked at her.
“What?”
Claire said nothing.
A nurse rushed down the corridor.
“Doctor, Detective Harris is here.”
Daniel turned.
A tall detective approached.
“Daniel Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
“You're going to need to come with me.”
“Why?”
“We found something in the funeral director's office.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“What?”
“A file.”
The detective handed him a transparent evidence bag.
Inside was a folded document.
Daniel opened it.
His face drained of color.
It was a death certificate.
Emily Whitmore.
Date of death: two days earlier.
Cause: sudden cardiac arrest.
But beneath the document was something else.
A payment receipt.
$250,000.
Paid in cash.
Recipient:
Thomas Bell Funeral Services.
Daniel looked at Detective Harris.
“I didn't pay him.”
“I know.”
“What is this?”
“We don't know yet.”
Claire stepped closer.
Detective Harris looked at her.
“You're Claire Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“You were the one who opened the coffin?”
“Yes.”
He studied her.
“Why did you do it?”
Claire swallowed.
“Because Emily wasn't dead.”
“That doesn't explain how you knew.”
Claire froze.
The hallway suddenly felt too quiet.
Detective Harris stepped closer.
“Who told you?”
“Nobody.”
“Then how did you know?”
Claire looked through the glass.
Emily was still fighting for her life.
Finally, Claire whispered:
“She told me.”
Daniel turned.
“When?”
“Three nights ago.”
Detective Harris frowned.
“Three nights ago?”
Claire's eyes filled with fear.
“She came to my room after midnight.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“My wife?”
Claire nodded.
“She said somebody was going to kill her.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Claire looked directly at him.
“Because she said you were the first person I couldn't trust.”
Silence.
Daniel stepped backward.
Detective Harris slowly reached for his radio.
And inside the trauma room, Emily's heart monitor suddenly began screaming.
Flatline.
Claire turned.
“Emily!”
Doctors rushed in.
For several seconds, there was chaos.
Then the monitor changed.
One heartbeat.
Another.
Then another.
Emily's eyes opened.
A nurse leaned down.
“Emily, can you hear me?”
Emily grabbed her wrist.
Her lips moved.
The nurse bent closer.
“What?”
Emily whispered:
“Thomas didn't do it.”
The nurse stared.
“Who did?”
Emily's eyes filled with terror.
May you like
Then she spoke three words.
“Your husband did.”
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