Chapter 6 - THE CONVERSATION
The audio file was damaged.
Forensics recovered most of it by afternoon.
Rachel played it once.
Nobody in the room spoke.
Arthur's voice came first.
“You're moving too quickly.”
Julian answered.
“She keeps fighting.”
“Then sedate her.”
“She knows too much.”
“What does she know?”
“The accounts.”
Silence.
Then Arthur.
“Does Miriam know?”
“She knows enough.”
Another pause.
Then Julian said the sentence I would hear in nightmares for years.
“If she dies looking unstable, nobody asks questions.”
Arthur didn't object.
He asked only one thing.
“How long until the insurance clears?”
The recording ended thirty-seven seconds later.
Rachel stopped the audio.
Audrey stared at the floor.
I watched her face instead of mine.
She had lived inside a house with people calmly discussing her death.
And she had still found a way to call me.
“What happens now?” she asked.
Rachel leaned forward.
“Now we build the case.”
“Build?”
Audrey looked shocked.
“You heard them.”
“I did.”
“So arrest them.”
“Julian is already being held on assault, unlawful restraint, and obstruction-related charges.”
“What about Arthur?”
“We need to prove intent.”
“He talked about my death.”
“I know.”
Audrey's voice rose.
“How much more do you need?”
I put my hand over hers.
Rachel remained calm.
“The difference between knowing what someone deserves and proving what they did in court can be enormous.”
Audrey pulled her hand away from mine.
“So they're going home?”
“Miriam and Arthur may.”
Audrey started shaking.
“No.”
“They can't reach you here.”
“You don't know them.”
Her breathing became faster.
“Audrey.”
“No, Dad, you don't understand.”
She tried to get out of bed.
“They don't lose.”
I stood.
“Neither do we.”
She looked at me.
“This isn't the Army.”
“No.”
I pulled the chair closer.
“This is harder.”
For the first time, Audrey smiled faintly.
Then someone screamed in the hallway.
A nurse ran past the door.
Marcus stepped outside.
Ten seconds later, he returned.
“Elias.”
His expression told me something was wrong.
“What?”
“Fire alarm.”
The alarm began shrieking overhead.
Hospital staff started moving patients.
Rachel stood.
“Coincidence?”
Marcus looked toward the stairwell.
“I stopped believing in coincidences around 1989.”
Smoke appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Nurses began rolling beds toward emergency exits.
I looked at Audrey.
“We're moving.”
A man in blue hospital scrubs entered.
“Mr. Vale, I need to take your daughter downstairs.”
Something about him felt wrong.
Maybe it was the shoes.
Black dress shoes beneath medical scrubs.
Maybe it was the way he wouldn't look at Marcus.
I stepped between him and the bed.
“What's your name?”
He froze.
Then he reached inside his scrub top.
Marcus hit him before his hand came back out.
The man crashed into the wall.
A syringe rolled across the floor.
Rachel picked it up.
“What is this?”
The stranger fought Marcus until two troopers arrived.
Audrey was crying.
I looked down at the syringe.
Clear fluid.
No label.
The man smiled through a bleeding lip.
“You can't protect her forever.”
I grabbed his shirt.
“Who sent you?”
He stared straight at Audrey.
May you like
Then said one name.
“Miriam.”
