Chapter 4 - THE FRIEND WHO HELD THE SECOND KEY
Laura Dane had visited me in the hospital after every major surgery.
She stood beside me at my wedding.
She brought soup after the first time Ethan shoved me into a wall.
I lied and told her I had fallen while carrying laundry.
She looked at the bruise and said nothing.
I believed silence meant she respected my privacy.
Now twenty-two million dollars was moving into an account she controlled.
Mara ordered the bank to stop the transfer.
The funds reached an intermediary account seconds before the freeze.
Laura’s phone was disconnected.
Her apartment was empty.
Her car had left Chicago before sunrise.
Liam watched my face.
“You trusted her.”
“Yes.”
“Did she know about the audit?”
“She helped me design it.”
That answer made everything worse.
Laura had access to every suspicious transaction I found.
She also knew where I stored evidence.
Mara searched the archive logs.
Someone had attempted to enter FREEDOM the night before Ethan attacked me.
The failed login came from Laura’s office.
My friend had warned Ethan.
I remembered our final lunch.
Laura asked whether I truly intended to leave.
She said divorce could destroy Apex’s reputation.
She reminded me that hundreds of employees depended on the company.
I thought she was worried about me.
She was measuring how much time they had left.
Mara received a message from highway patrol.
Laura’s car had been found near Lake Michigan.
The driver’s door was open.
Blood marked the steering wheel.
No body was inside.
A handwritten note rested on the passenger seat.
SARAH MADE ME DO IT.
Mara showed me a photograph.
The handwriting was not Laura’s.
It resembled mine.
“They are preparing to blame you,” Liam said.
“They have been preparing for months.”
My false psychiatric report described obsessive jealousy toward Laura.
The document claimed I believed Ethan and Laura were having an affair.
I had never accused them.
Now I wondered whether the lie was built around a truth.
Mara opened phone records.
Ethan and Laura exchanged more than two thousand messages during the previous year.
Most had been deleted.
The recovered fragments concerned my schedule.
My medication.
The independent audit.
One message from Ethan read:
WHEN SHE SIGNS, YOU GET YOUR SHARE.
Laura answered:
SHE WILL NEVER SIGN WILLINGLY.
His reply contained only three words.
THEN STOP ASKING.
I turned away from the screen.
The attack in the kitchen had not been a sudden explosion of rage.
Laura knew it would happen.
She may have helped design it.
A nurse entered with my toxicology results.
“There is a sedative in your blood.”
“What kind?”
“A veterinary tranquilizer.”
Liam looked at her.
“That was not administered here.”
“No.”
“It appears she ingested it several hours before admission.”
I remembered dinner.
Ethan poured wine.
I refused it.
Laura had brought dessert from my favorite bakery.
A lemon tart.
I ate half.
My arms felt heavy before Ethan confronted me.
He had not simply beaten me until I could not resist.
They weakened me first.
Mara checked the bakery camera.
Laura purchased the tart.
A man met her outside and gave her a small envelope.
The man was Dr. Stephen Vale.
Liam’s phone vibrated.
He read the message and became still.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Vale entered Riverside Hospital ten minutes ago.”
“Why?”
“He is requesting access to your room.”
May you like
Mara reached for her weapon.
Then the hospital lights went out.
