Chapter 5 - The Confession Behind Steel Doors
Victor lunged for the transmitter.
I rolled sideways.
Pain tore through my chest, but the device stayed in my fist.
“Give me that!”
He grabbed my wrist.
Then someone struck the security door from the other side.
“POLICE!”
Victor froze.
His face changed.
Not fear.
Calculation.
He released me immediately.
By the time the door opened, he was standing three feet away.
“She collapsed,” he shouted.
Detective Brooks entered first.
Two officers followed.
A paramedic rushed toward me.
Victor pointed at the oxygen mask.
“She became confused. She attacked me.”
Brooks looked at him.
Then at me.
Then at the transmitter.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Victor straightened his jacket.
“She needs medical attention.”
Brooks removed a small earpiece.
“We heard everything.”
For the first time in my life, I watched Victor Hale run out of lies.
His mouth opened.
Nothing came.
Officer Daniels took his arm.
Victor jerked away.
“You have no idea who you're dealing with.”
Brooks's expression remained calm.
“Victor Hale, you're being detained in connection with the murders of Jonathan and Evelyn Mercer.”
Victor stared at me.
“You did this?”
The paramedic placed the oxygen mask over my face.
I breathed.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Alive.
Victor was handcuffed.
As officers led him toward the door, his eyes remained fixed on mine.
“You think this ends with me?”
Brooks stopped.
Victor smiled.
“There are things your parents never told you.”
Then he was gone.
The sentence followed me to the hospital.
Doctors confirmed I had strained the surgical incision but caused no catastrophic damage.
I should have felt victorious.
Instead, I kept hearing Victor.
There are things your parents never told you.
At 4:00 a.m., Brooks entered my room.
“We searched Victor's house.”
“And?”
She placed a photograph on my blanket.
Raymond Pike stood beside Victor.
But there was a third man.
I recognized him.
Marcus Bell.
Chief financial officer of Hale Mercer Logistics.
My father's closest employee.
Brooks sat beside me.
“We think Victor wasn't working alone.”
I looked at the photograph.
Marcus had visited my hospital room after surgery.
He had hugged me.
He had cried.
And suddenly I understood Victor's final smile.
We hadn't ended the conspiracy.
May you like
We had only opened the first door.
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