Chapter 2 - THE NURSE WHO DISAPPEARED
Hannah locked the brass key inside her scrub pocket before Claire could see it.
Walter pushed Nicholas toward the private elevator.
“I’ll take him upstairs.”
“No,” Hannah said. “I will.”
Claire stepped forward.
“I’m his fiancée.”
“And right now he needs medical assessment.”
“You think I’m dangerous?”
Hannah looked at her.
“I think he’s bleeding.”
Walter’s mouth tightened as if hiding approval.
Claire folded her arms.
“You have no idea what kind of house you walked into.”
Hannah pressed the elevator button.
“Then maybe you should stop giving me reasons to find out.”
The doors closed between them.
Nicholas leaned back.
His face had gone pale.
Hannah checked his pupils.
“Any dizziness?”
“No.”
“Nausea?”
“A little.”
“Headache?”
“Always.”
“That isn’t funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
The elevator climbed.
Hannah crouched in front of him.
“What did you mean about the nurse before me?”
Nicholas looked at the ceiling.
“Rebecca Sloan.”
“The agency said I was the fourth nurse since May.”
“She was the third.”
“What happened?”
“She left.”
“That’s not what you said downstairs.”
His jaw tightened.
“She disappeared.”
Hannah stopped.
“What does that mean?”
“One morning she simply wasn’t here.”
“Maybe she quit.”
“She left her car.”
The elevator doors opened.
Nicholas rolled himself toward his bedroom.
Hannah followed.
“What else?”
“Her bag. Clothes. Laptop charger.”
“No phone?”
“Gone.”
“Did anyone call police?”
Nicholas gave her a look.
“You think people in my world call police easily?”
“You think disappearing nurses is normal?”
“No.”
“Then start acting like it.”
For once, he didn’t argue.
Inside the bedroom, Hannah checked his blood pressure.
Too low.
Again.
She pulled out her notebook.
Nicholas noticed.
“You write down everything.”
“That’s how memory works when rich people start lying.”
His mouth almost moved into a smile.
Almost.
Hannah checked his medication organizer.
One compartment was empty.
“Did you already take your ten o’clock dose?”
Nicholas frowned.
“No.”
Hannah’s stomach tightened.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
She turned toward the bathroom.
A glass sat beside the sink.
Wet.
Someone had been inside.
Hannah checked the water pitcher.
Then the wastebasket.
Nothing.
She returned.
“Who came in here during the party?”
“Half the house.”
“Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Walter?”
“Probably.”
“Security?”
“Maybe.”
“Hector?”
Nicholas looked at her.
Hector Marin had been Nicholas’s personal driver and security chief for almost ten years.
“Yes.”
Hannah shut the medication box.
“No more pills tonight.”
“You’re changing my prescription?”
“I’m withholding one dose until I speak to Dr. Burke.”
Nicholas’s face darkened.
“Burke works for me.”
“No. He treats you.”
“Same thing.”
“It absolutely isn’t.”
Hannah reached for the bedside phone.
Nicholas grabbed her arm.
“Wait.”
“What?”
He looked toward the door.
Then whispered, “Use your phone.”
Hannah frowned.
“Why?”
“I think that line is monitored.”
A cold silence followed.
She took out her cell.
Before calling the physician, she pulled the brass key from her pocket.
“What does this open?”
Nicholas looked at it for a long moment.
“Rebecca gave it to me the night before she vanished.”
Hannah’s fingers tightened.
“And you never checked?”
“I couldn’t find the lock.”
“Where did she say it went?”
“She didn’t.”
“Nothing?”
“She was scared.”
Nicholas swallowed.
“She kept looking toward the hallway.”
Hannah lowered her voice.
“What exactly did she say?”
Nicholas shut his eyes.
“She said, ‘If I’m right, someone has been preparing for your death since before the crash.’”
Hannah went still.
“Before the crash?”
Nicholas opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
His car had gone over a bridge eight months earlier.
Police called it brake failure.
Nicholas survived.
His driver died.
His spine did not.
Hannah stared at the key.
“If Rebecca thought someone was trying to kill you, why didn’t you believe her?”
His answer came quietly.
“Because the next morning, Claire showed me security footage of Rebecca stealing medication from my room.”
Hannah’s pulse jumped.
“Did you watch the original footage?”
“I watched what Claire gave me.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Nicholas looked away.
Hannah stood.
“Where is Rebecca’s old nursing station?”
“East wing.”
“Which room?”
“Third door after the study.”
“Was it cleared?”
“Walter said yes.”
Hannah walked toward the door.
Nicholas grabbed the wheel of his chair.
“Where are you going?”
“To find the lock.”
“Hannah.”
She turned.
“If Rebecca really found something before she disappeared, somebody may have searched everything.”
“Maybe.”
“And if they know about that key?”
“They don’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
Hannah opened her hand.
“Because Claire looked at me downstairs like she wanted to know what you gave me.”
Nicholas stared.
Hannah slid the key back into her pocket.
“She didn’t see it.”
Then a sound came from the hallway.
A floorboard creaked.
Hannah opened the bedroom door fast.
May you like
Nobody was there.
But at the far end of the corridor, the east-wing door was slowly closing.
