CHAPTER 4 — SOMEONE CAME TO FINISH THE JOB
The emergency lights flickered on, bathing the room in a dim red glow.
The heart monitor was silent.
The oxygen machine had stopped.
Only the distant alarms echoed through the hospital corridors.
Clara instinctively stepped in front of Olivia's bed.
"Stay behind me."
Olivia grabbed her wrist.
"Lock the door."
Clara rushed to the entrance.
The handle wouldn't move.
Someone had locked it from the outside.
A slow knock echoed through the room.
Three taps.
Exactly three.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Neither sister spoke.
Another three knocks.
Then a calm male voice drifted through the door.
"Hospital security."
"We're evacuating this floor."
Olivia's grip tightened painfully.
"No," she whispered.
"Don't answer."
The voice came again.
"Miss Bennett? We know you're awake."
Clara's eyes widened.
No announcement had been made.
How did they know Olivia had regained consciousness?
She quietly looked through the narrow glass window in the door.
The man outside wore a security uniform.
But something was wrong.
His badge was upside down.
And instead of looking toward the room, he was staring directly into the small security camera mounted above the door.
Almost as if he knew it was no longer recording.
He slowly smiled.
Then he raised one gloved hand.
Gray gloves.
The same gray gloves worn by the stranger in the cemetery.
Clara stumbled backward.
"It's him."
The man's smile widened.
Without another word, he pulled a keycard from his pocket and swiped it across the lock.
A green light flashed.
Click.
The door began to open.
At that exact moment, a voice thundered from the hallway.
"Step away from that room!"
Detective Ryan Cole sprinted down the corridor with two officers behind him.
The fake guard looked over his shoulder.
For the first time, the smile vanished from his face.
Instead of running toward the elevator, he did something unexpected.
He calmly removed the fake security badge.
Dropped it onto the floor.
And walked through the emergency stairwell door.
By the time Ryan reached it seconds later...
The stairwell was empty.
Not a single footstep echoed below.
Not a trace of the man remained.
Only one thing had been left behind.
A small silver key.
Taped to it was a handwritten note.
"You're already too late."
Ryan stared at the message.
Then looked back toward Clara and Olivia.
May you like
Something told him this case had never been about one attempted murder.
It was the beginning of something much larger.
