Chapter 26 - THE DEAD MAN’S LAST VISITOR
Ambrose died at 4:17 p.m.
At 4:32, police sealed the hospital floor.
At 4:46, Emily’s name appeared on the visitor log.
She was sitting in Hale Systems headquarters when Rachel showed her the photograph.
Emily stared at the screen.
“That’s not my signature.”
“I know.”
“Did anyone see me there?”
“Security footage shows a woman in a baseball cap entering with your temporary visitor badge.”
Emily’s hand went to her collar.
The badge was gone.
She had last used it at Matthew’s hospital.
“Someone stole it.”
Rachel’s expression was careful.
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Emily, the police will ask when you last had it.”
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
She closed her eyes.
Matthew’s room.
Rachel’s office.
Carter Meridian safe.
Diane’s hospital room.
Lena’s clinic.
Too many buildings.
Too many people.
“I don’t know.”
Rachel nodded.
“Then say that.”
The toxicology report came back before midnight.
Ambrose had been given potassium chloride through his IV line.
The injection caused cardiac arrest.
Whoever did it knew exactly where the cameras were.
The woman in the cap never showed her face.
The badge reader identified her as Emily Hale.
Online, that was enough.
By morning, the headline was everywhere.
HEIRESS QUESTIONED IN BILLIONAIRE’S DEATH.
Emily sat on the edge of her bed in a borrowed apartment and read exactly three comments before throwing the phone onto a chair.
One claimed she had seduced Matthew Carter into killing Ambrose.
Another claimed she had killed her father too.
A third called her dress from the mansion “cheap-looking.”
That one irritated her in a completely different way.
She laughed.
Then cried.
Then got angry at herself for laughing.
The doorbell rang.
Matthew stood outside with his injured arm in a sling.
Emily did not invite him in.
“You’re supposed to be resting.”
“So are you.”
“I don’t have a bullet hole.”
“Competitive injury is a strange hobby.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
“What do you want?”
“To tell you I found the bridge loan documents.”
“Email them.”
“I did.”
“Then why are you here?”
Matthew looked at her.
“Because police asked me whether I believe you killed Ambrose.”
Emily’s face hardened.
“What did you say?”
“No.”
“Based on evidence?”
“No.”
She blinked.
“That is not reassuring.”
“I told them you had no opportunity based on the timeline I personally witnessed for most of the relevant period.”
“That is reassuring.”
“And I told them you’re terrible at quietly doing anything.”
Emily stared at him.
He added, “That part may not have been useful.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then stopped.
Matthew looked toward the floor.
“I also gave them the names of everyone who had access to my hospital room where your badge may have been taken.”
“Who?”
“Staff, visitors, security.”
“Lena?”
“Yes.”
“Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“Danielle?”
“Yes.”
Emily leaned against the doorframe.
“Diane?”
“She was on another floor under guard.”
“Peter?”
“Same building for treatment after East Dock.”
There it was.
A list full of people she had reasons to distrust.
Matthew said, “There’s one more.”
“Who?”
“Sheriff Price visited the hospital using a law-enforcement credential forty minutes before Ambrose died.”
Emily went still.
“He resigned.”
“Resignation does not make doors stop opening.”
“Why would Nolan kill Ambrose?”
“Danielle.”
Emily thought of the old tapes.
Of the private clinic.
Of Victor Carter’s payments.
“He might want to keep his sister’s history buried.”
“Or keep his own payments buried.”
Rachel called before Emily could answer.
“Do not go anywhere.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Why does everyone start with that?”
“Because Nolan Price just disappeared.”
“What?”
“His vehicle was found near North Harbor.”
“Any sign of him?”
“No.”
“And Danielle?”
Rachel was silent.
Emily’s stomach dropped.
“Rachel.”
“She’s gone too.”
Matthew looked at Emily’s face.
“What?”
Emily lowered the phone.
“Danielle and Nolan are both missing.”
Then an email arrived from Danielle’s account.
No text.
Only a twenty-second audio file.
Emily played it.
At first there was wind.
Then Danielle’s voice whispered, “He didn’t kill Ambrose.”
Emily leaned closer.
May you like
“He helped him fake his death.”
The recording ended.
