Chapter 5 - THE DEAD SON
At the hospital, police stationed two officers outside Luis’s room.
Charles Sterling refused to leave.
Mercer refused to let him near Luis.
Maya stood between two worlds that had collided in one violent night.
Her brother.
The billionaire.
The missing wife.
The dead son who apparently wasn’t dead.
At 1:14 a.m., Mercer entered the waiting room.
“Charles.”
Charles looked up.
“We need to talk privately.”
“No,” Maya said.
Mercer sighed.
Charles gave her a cold look.
“She stays,” Maya said. “My brother got shot because of your family.”
Charles almost objected.
Then stopped.
“Fine.”
Mercer sat.
“Luis gave us a name.”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
“Adrian?”
“No. Dr. Samuel Voss.”
Charles stood immediately.
Conversation over.
Mercer blocked him.
“Sit down.”
“I’m leaving.”
“You leave, I’ll have officers follow you.”
“For what crime?”
“That depends on how many lies you tell me tonight.”
Charles slowly sat again.
Mercer opened his notebook.
“Dr. Voss worked at Sterling Medical eleven years ago.”
Charles said nothing.
“His name also appears on Adrian Sterling’s death certificate.”
Maya stared.
“And?”
Mercer leaned forward.
“He disappeared three weeks after Adrian’s funeral.”
Charles looked toward the window.
Maya whispered, “You knew.”
Finally Charles spoke.
“Adrian was sick.”
“What kind of sick?” Mercer asked.
“He became paranoid. Violent.”
“About what?”
“Me.”
Maya laughed without humor.
“Maybe he had a reason.”
Charles’s eyes flashed.
“You know nothing about my son.”
“Then tell us.”
Charles rubbed his face.
For a moment, he looked less like a titan and more like an exhausted father.
“Adrian discovered financial records. He believed I had bribed officials during Sterling Medical’s early expansion.”
“Had you?”
Charles looked at Mercer.
“Yes.”
Maya blinked.
“He threatened to expose me.”
“So you killed him?” she asked.
“No.”
“What did you do?”
Charles’s voice became quiet.
“I had him committed.”
Maya felt the anger rise.
“Against his will?”
“He was unstable.”
“Or inconvenient?”
“He attacked me!”
Charles pulled up his sleeve.
A long faded scar crossed his forearm.
“He came at me with a knife.”
Mercer said, “And the car accident?”
“A cover story.”
“Whose body was in the car?”
Charles didn’t answer.
Mercer’s patience snapped.
“Whose body?”
Charles whispered, “A homeless man.”
Maya stepped away from him.
“My God.”
“I didn’t kill him. He died in an emergency ward. Voss arranged the identification.”
“You bought a dead man,” Maya said.
Charles’s face twisted.
“I protected my family.”
“No. You protected your name.”
The waiting-room television suddenly flickered.
Static.
Then a video replaced the late-night news.
A man appeared.
Older.
Thin.
A scar running along his jaw.
Charles stood so violently his chair flipped backward.
The man looked directly into the camera.
“Hello, Father.”
Charles whispered one word.
“Adrian.”
The video continued.
“If you’re watching this, Eleanor failed.”
Maya stared.
Adrian smiled.
“And now we do it the hard way.”
The screen went black.
Then every phone in the room buzzed at once.
A message appeared.
May you like
CHARLES STERLING HAS UNTIL SUNRISE TO CONFESS.
OR SOMEONE ELSE DIES.
