Chapter 12 - THE SECOND ATTEMPT
Nell reached the hospital running.
Again.
She hated that hallways had become the places where people told her whether her father would live.
A doctor met her outside surgery.
“We stabilized him.”
“Was it poison?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Can I see him?”
“Not yet.”
Nell leaned against the wall.
Carmine arrived behind her.
For once, he didn’t say anything.
She turned on him.
“How?”
“We’ll find out.”
“No. How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Calder was in the church.”
“He had people.”
“So does everybody around you!”
The words hit harder than she intended.
Carmine’s face closed.
Nell instantly regretted it.
But she was too tired to apologize.
“My father was safe until this started again.”
Carmine nodded slowly.
“That’s true.”
She stared.
“You’re not going to argue?”
“No.”
“That’s irritating.”
“I’ve been told.”
She sat.
Carmine sat beside her.
For several minutes, they listened to hospital carts rolling past.
Then he said, “You know what I hated most about my father?”
Nell looked at him.
“He always knew what to do.”
“That sounds useful.”
“It was unbearable.”
She almost smiled.
Carmine continued.
“After he died, everybody looked at me like I had inherited his answers.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“What did you inherit?”
“Problems.”
That made her laugh once.
Carmine looked at her.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“You.”
Her smile disappeared.
“What does that mean?”
“The woman in the bakery photo.”
Nell looked down.
“She’s gone.”
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I saw her when you argued with Calder.”
“That was rage.”
“Still counts.”
Before she could respond, Benny came around the corner.
“We got the hospital footage.”
They stood.
The video showed a nurse entering Emmett’s room.
Except she wasn’t a nurse.
Nell stared.
“Zoom in.”
Benny did.
Odette.
Nell’s face went cold.
“That’s impossible.”
“She left the church in an ambulance.”
“Time stamp?”
“Two hours before the church meeting.”
Carmine understood.
“Pre-recorded?”
“No. Security feed.”
Nell shook her head.
“Odette was with us.”
Benny zoomed further.
The woman turned toward the camera.
Not Odette.
Similar age.
Similar build.
But different face.
Carmine frowned.
“Who is she?”
Benny ran the image.
A minute later, a name appeared.
Martha Pruitt.
Odette’s younger sister.
Nell stared.
“She has another sister?”
Carmine looked at Benny.
“Find her.”
“Already trying.”
The doctor came through the doors.
“Ms. Fontaine?”
Nell turned.
“Your father is awake.”
She entered the recovery room.
Emmett looked exhausted.
“Dad.”
His lips moved.
She leaned close.
“Water?”
He shook his head.
Then whispered:
“Doyle.”
Nell froze.
“What?”
“Walter... Doyle.”
“What about him?”
Emmett lifted one trembling finger.
“Not dead.”
Her heart pounded.
“How do you know?”
His eyes opened wider.
“Because he came to see me.”
“When?”
Emmett swallowed.
“Yesterday.”
Nell stepped back.
“What did he say?”
Emmett stared at her.
“He said he kept the real evidence.”
“Where?”
May you like
Her father’s voice dropped almost to nothing.
“In your mother’s grave.”
