Chapter 6 - David’s Confession
Laura stared at him.
“You were there.”
David lowered the gun.
“It isn’t what you think.”
“That sentence is becoming very popular.”
He sat down.
Eight years earlier, David had worked as a pharmaceutical compliance investigator.
He had entered Sophia’s room because he suspected illegal testing.
The footage showed him touching the pump because he was photographing the serial number.
He had not changed the dosage.
“Then who did?”
David showed Laura the rest of the footage.
Thirty minutes later, Charles Whitmore himself entered.
He remained for ninety seconds.
After he left, Sophia crashed.
Laura’s grief became rage.
Whitmore had been at her sister’s bedside.
The famous philanthropist had shaken Laura’s hand at the funeral.
Years later, he had done the same after Michael died.
“He killed both of them.”
David shook his head.
“We still need proof about Michael.”
Then Emily found another detail.
Whitmore’s visit was logged under a false name.
But the access badge belonged to Nathan Cole.
Meaning Cole had helped him.
Megan received a call.
Ryan had disappeared from the hospital.
Again.
Only this time, security footage showed him walking out willingly.
A message arrived on Laura’s phone.
ASK YOUR FRIEND WHAT MICHAEL DID THE NIGHT HE DIED.
Attached was a photograph of Michael entering David’s house.
The timestamp was only two hours before Michael’s death.
Laura looked at David.
“You saw him that night.”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“He gave me evidence.”
“And?”
“He asked me to disappear.”
Laura frowned.
“Why?”
David’s answer stunned her.
“Because Michael already knew somebody was going to kill him.”
Michael had discovered his car had been tampered with.
He believed the conspirators were watching Laura too.
So he devised a plan.
David would fake his death, disappear with evidence and return only if Laura became a target.
“You waited fourteen months.”
“Because nobody came after you.”
“Until now.”
David nodded.
Laura finally understood why she had collapsed.
Someone wanted the USB.
But how did they know she had it?
Cole had carried it.
That suggested Michael’s drive had been passed through several hands since his death.
They checked file access logs.
The USB had been opened three weeks earlier.
User account:
RPRICE.
Ryan Price.
Megan’s brother.
Megan stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Then Detective Hale called.
Ryan had been seen entering Whitmore Tower.
Laura closed the laptop.
“We’re going.”
Whitmore Tower’s lobby was empty when they arrived.
Too empty.
Ranger immediately became agitated.
They took a service elevator to the executive floor.
Inside Whitmore’s office, Ryan sat alone.
He looked terrified.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
Megan ran to him.
Ryan explained.
He had found Michael’s USB months earlier hidden behind a loose pharmacy cabinet.
He opened it.
Cole caught him.
From that moment, Cole controlled him.
“Who put it behind the cabinet?” Laura asked.
Ryan swallowed.
“I did.”
Laura stared.
“What?”
“Michael gave it to me.”
Eight years earlier, Ryan had been a teenage hospital volunteer.
Michael trusted him.
The night Michael died, he secretly handed Ryan the USB.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I was seventeen. Cole threatened my mom.”
Laura suddenly realized the truth.
Michael had been building safeguards everywhere.
David.
Ryan.
Eleanor.
Even Ranger.
Then Whitmore’s office television switched on.
Charles Whitmore appeared live.
But he wasn’t in the room.
“Laura.”
His voice was calm.
“You’ve inherited your husband’s most exhausting quality.”
She stared at the screen.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“You killed Sophia.”
“No.”
“You were in her room.”
“Yes.”
“Michael?”
Whitmore smiled faintly.
“Michael’s death was unfortunate.”
Laura stepped closer.
“Did you kill him?”
Whitmore replied with five words.
“No. Nathan Cole did that.”
May you like
Then the office doors locked.
A gas began pouring from the ventilation system.
