Chapter 9 - A Voice From the Dead
The shooting stopped as suddenly as it had begun.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Daniel remained crouched behind the counter, pistol aimed toward the shattered window.
Emily stared at the prepaid phone.
Claire’s voice returned.
“Daniel always was a convincing liar.”
He reached for the device.
Emily pulled it close to her chest.
“You said she was dead.”
“She is.”
“Then who is speaking?”
Daniel looked toward the bakery’s rear exit.
“We don’t have time for this.”
“You’ve had years.”
Another siren grew louder.
Daniel placed the pistol back beneath his jacket.
“The police will arrive in less than two minutes. The shooter will already be gone. When they ask questions, you say you saw nothing.”
“I saw you carrying a gun.”
“If they discover that weapon, neither of us will leave this building.”
Emily searched his face.
“What are you involved in?”
Daniel looked tired suddenly, as if the secret had aged him in a matter of seconds.
“I was supposed to prevent something from happening at your hospital eight years ago.”
“Prevent what?”
“A transfer.”
“Of a patient?”
He hesitated.
“Of an identity.”
Claire interrupted.
“He’s hiding the most important part.”
Daniel glared at the phone.
“You don’t know who you’re speaking to.”
“And I don’t know who I married.”
That struck him harder than she expected.
His expression softened.
“Emily, everything between us wasn’t false.”
“Was any of it real?”
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
Glass cracked under approaching footsteps outside.
Daniel looked toward the front entrance.
“Police.”
Emily rose slightly.
“I’m going to tell them everything.”
Daniel grabbed her wrist.
“If you mention the suitcase, the messages, or Room 6, people inside your hospital will know you saw the files.”
“They already know.”
“No. Right now, they only suspect.”
A uniformed officer appeared through the broken doorway.
“Everyone remain where you are!”
Daniel released Emily.
The pistol was hidden again.
He raised both hands.
Emily did the same.
The officer approached and asked whether either of them had seen the shooter.
Daniel answered first.
“No.”
Emily looked at him.
Then at the officer.
Then at the hospital keycard still concealed inside her sleeve.
“I saw a gray car across the street,” she said slowly. “No license plate.”
Daniel’s eyes flickered toward her.
The officer wrote it down.
Claire remained silent on the phone.
After the police moved away, Daniel leaned close.
“Why did you protect me?”
Emily whispered, “I didn’t.”
She turned the keycard over inside her palm.
A tiny string of numbers had appeared beneath the hospital logo.
Not an employee number.
Coordinates.
Daniel noticed them at the same moment.
His face tightened.
“Where did you get that card?”
Emily closed her hand around it.
May you like
“From the dead woman.”
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