Chapter 10 - The Unthinkable Truth
Maria and Julian reached the heavy wooden door at the end of the underground tunnel.
Julian placed his ear against the cold wood, listening intently.
"I hear voices," Julian whispered, turning to Maria.
"It's Arthur and the doctor."
Maria placed her hand on the iron door handle, her heart pounding violently against her ribs.
"On three," Julian murmured, gripping his crowbar tightly.
"One..."
"Two..."
Before Julian could say three, a loud, heavy gunshot echoed from the other side of the wall.
The sharp bang rattled the rusty iron hinges of the tunnel door.
Maria gasped, throwing her hands over her mouth.
A heavy body slammed against the concrete floor inside the basement.
"Arthur, you're crazy!" Dr. Vance's panicked voice screamed through the wood.
"You can't just shoot him!"
"He knew too much, Vance!" Arthur's voice roared back, wild and completely unhinged.
"He was going to betray us to the grand jury!"
Maria slowly pushed the wooden door open by a single inch to look inside the room.
The sight before her eyes made her blood run cold.
The elderly lawyer, Mr. Vance's associate who had handled the estate paperwork, was lying motionless on the floor in a pool of dark blood.
Arthur stood over the body, holding a smoking black revolver in his right hand.
In the center of the room, Emily was still strapped to the iron chair, her eyes wide with horrified shock.
"Clean this up, Vance!" Arthur commanded, pointing the gun at the terrified doctor.
"And then inject my wife before anyone else comes through that door!"
"I... I can't!" Dr. Vance stammered, falling to his knees in terror.
"This has gone too far!"
"This is murder!"
Arthur turned the barrel of the gun directly toward Dr. Vance's forehead.
"Do it," Arthur whispered with a terrifying, calm smile.
"Or you join him on the floor."
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Maria looked at Julian in the dark tunnel, her knuckles turning bone-white around the iron wrench.
She knew she couldn't wait any longer.
