Chapter 4 - THE SECOND ATTEMPT
The woman wearing Emily’s uniform disappeared before security reached the stairwell.
She left one thing behind.
A hospital transport bag.
Inside was a sealed humidifier cartridge intended for Noah’s respiratory equipment.
Dr. Reeves took one look at the lot sticker and called pharmacy.
The serial number did not exist.
Michael watched the evidence bag leave the floor.
Someone had nearly reached Noah twice in one night.
The first attempt had happened in his own home.
The second happened inside one of the most secure hospitals in Boston.
And whoever was doing it knew exactly what equipment Noah was using.
“This is internal information,” Michael said.
Frank nodded.
“Either hospital or household.”
“Or both.”
Emily stood beside the glass ICU doors.
Noah was visible through two layers of glass.
Tiny.
Covered in tubes.
Alive.
Her eyes stayed on him.
Michael studied her.
Twenty-three years old.
A maid for eight months.
A dead brother.
A dead younger brother.
A story full of enough tragedy to make almost anything believable.
Frank had clearly reached the same conclusion.
“We need to consider Emily.”
She turned.
Michael said nothing.
Frank continued.
“She entered your house using incomplete information on her application. She admits she was searching private rooms. She knew exactly what to do tonight. Now someone dressed as her gets within one security door of Noah.”
Emily laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“So I poisoned him, saved him, then came here to poison him again?”
“I’m saying we verify everything.”
“Frank.”
Michael’s voice stopped him.
Emily looked at Michael.
“No. He’s right.”
Frank seemed surprised.
She held out her phone.
“Check me.”
Michael frowned.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
Frank took the phone.
Emily continued.
“My apartment. Bank accounts. School records. Daniel’s records. All of it.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody wants you wondering whether I’m the danger.”
She looked toward Noah.
“And every minute you spend wondering about me is a minute they aren’t being watched.”
Michael had spent his entire adult life evaluating deception.
Emily was afraid.
She was withholding things.
But those were not necessarily the same as lying.
A detective approached.
“We finished the first interview with Margaret.”
Michael turned.
“And?”
“She insists Victoria sent the blanket.”
“Victoria denies it.”
“We know.”
“Which one is lying?”
“We don’t know yet.”
The detective handed Michael a photograph.
“Margaret showed us this.”
A text message.
Sender saved as VC.
PLACE THE BLUE PACKAGE IN NOAH’S CRIB BEFORE 8 P.M. DO NOT OPEN IT. FAMILY SURPRISE.
Michael stared.
“Phone number?”
“Burner.”
Frank cursed.
Michael asked:
“Why would Margaret obey a burner?”
“She says Victoria frequently changed numbers for private family matters.”
That was true.
Victoria was paranoid about leaks.
Conveniently true.
Another message followed:
REMOVE THE OLD BLANKET. MICHAEL HATES CLUTTER.
Also true.
Whoever planned this knew him.
Emily suddenly pointed at the time.
“6:18 p.m.”
“What?”
“She received that message at 6:18.”
“Yes.”
Emily looked at Michael.
“I was in the west hallway then.”
“So?”
“Victoria was here.”
Michael froze.
“What?”
“At the mansion.”
“No.”
“I saw her.”
“Victoria was in New York.”
“She was upstairs.”
Frank looked at Michael.
Michael’s mouth went dry.
His sister had called earlier and said she was at her Manhattan apartment.
Emily continued.
“She came through the west entrance. No coat. Gray dress. She walked into Mrs. Carter’s old dressing room.”
Michael stared.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were on a call. And she’s your sister. I didn’t think seeing her in your house was suspicious.”
Frank was already checking security logs.
His face hardened.
“West camera went offline from 6:02 to 6:41.”
Michael’s heartbeat changed.
“Who authorized maintenance?”
Frank scrolled.
Then stopped.
“I did.”
Michael turned.
Frank looked stunned.
“I did not.”
The authorization showed his credentials.
His security key.
His code.
Someone had cloned Frank’s access.
Again, perfect misdirection.
Michael looked at Emily.
“What was Victoria doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You saw her come out?”
Emily nodded.
“She was carrying something.”
“What?”
“A white box.”
Silence.
The same kind of box the poisoned blanket had arrived in.
Frank immediately called the private airfield used by the Carter family.
Two minutes later he ended the call.
“Victoria’s jet never left Massachusetts.”
Michael felt something inside him go completely cold.
“Where is she now?”
“Nobody knows.”
Then the ICU alarm sounded.
Michael spun around.
Doctors rushed toward Noah.
Dr. Reeves shouted for a medication cart.
Michael hit the glass.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered.
Emily stared through the window.
Then her gaze shifted toward the IV pole.
A clear bag had been attached minutes earlier.
Her face changed.
“That bag wasn’t there.”
Michael turned.
“What?”
“When I looked five minutes ago.”
She ran toward the doors.
A nurse blocked her.
Emily pointed through the glass.
“CHECK THAT BAG!”
Dr. Reeves heard.
She looked up.
Then at the label.
Her expression changed instantly.
The line was clamped.
The bag removed.
Security locked the unit.
Three attempts.
One house.
One hospital.
May you like
One baby.
And whoever was trying to kill Noah had just proved they could reach him even with Michael Carter standing twenty feet away.
