Chapter 5 - THE HOSPITAL INTRUDER
Shawn ran.
He hit the hallway at full speed.
“Mom!”
A man in dark clothes burst from Maria’s room.
Baseball cap.
Medical mask.
Gloves.
Shawn slammed into him.
They crashed into a supply cart.
Metal trays exploded across the floor.
The man punched Shawn in the jaw.
Shawn grabbed his jacket.
“Who sent you?”
The intruder drove a knee into Shawn’s stomach.
Shawn lost his grip.
The man ran.
Sheriff Ruiz came around the corner.
“STOP!”
The intruder shoved through a side exit.
Ruiz chased him.
Shawn rushed into Maria’s room.
She was awake.
Terrified.
But alive.
A nurse stood beside the bed.
“What happened?”
Maria pointed at the floor.
A syringe.
Shawn stared at it.
The intruder hadn’t come to scare her.
He had come to silence her.
Ruiz returned ten minutes later.
“He got away.”
Shawn’s anger erupted.
“How?”
“Parking garage. He had a vehicle waiting.”
“You have cameras.”
“We’re pulling footage.”
Shawn pointed toward the syringe.
“He tried to kill my mother.”
“We don’t know what’s in it yet.”
“I know enough.”
Maria spoke softly.
“Shawn.”
He turned.
She looked tired.
“Sit down.”
“Mom—”
“Sit.”
He obeyed.
She had always had that power.
“Anger makes people stupid,” she said.
“I’m not angry.”
Ruiz raised an eyebrow.
Maria almost smiled.
“You’re your father’s son. Angry men in this family always say they aren’t angry.”
Shawn breathed slowly.
“Did you recognize him?”
“No.”
“Voice?”
“No.”
“But he said something.”
Shawn leaned closer.
“What?”
Maria swallowed.
“He asked where the ledger was.”
Ruiz stopped writing.
“What ledger?”
Maria looked at Shawn.
“Your father kept records.”
“Of what?”
“Everything Kyle did.”
Don had suspected Kyle for months before the imprisonment.
Payments.
License plates.
Names.
Dates.
Every elderly person Kyle visited.
“He said if something happened to us, the book would prove it.”
“Where is it?”
Maria shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Dad does?”
“He hid it.”
Shawn found Don sitting upright in another room.
When he mentioned the ledger, Don’s expression hardened.
“I knew they’d come for it.”
“Where is it?”
“Not here.”
“Dad.”
“I’m not telling you.”
“What?”
Don leaned closer.
“You walked into town twelve hours ago and someone already tried to kill your mother.”
“That’s exactly why I need it.”
“That’s exactly why you don’t.”
Shawn stood.
“I’m not leaving you two alone in this.”
“You left us alone for twelve years.”
The words landed hard.
Don immediately regretted them.
Shawn looked away.
“You’re right.”
“Son—”
“No. You’re right.”
Don’s voice softened.
“I was angry.”
“You had every right.”
“I wanted you here. That doesn’t mean I wanted you dead.”
A deputy entered.
“Sheriff needs you.”
In the security office, they watched grainy footage of the attacker escaping.
A black SUV waited outside.
Ruiz froze the frame.
License plate visible.
He ran it.
Then stared at the result.
Shawn leaned forward.
“What?”
Ruiz turned the screen.
The SUV was registered to Brenda Miller.
Shawn felt the room tilt.
His sister had been in custody.
May you like
Which meant somebody else had her keys.
And that somebody knew exactly where the family was.
