Chapter 3 - Someone Inside the House
Rafael slammed Mercer against the wall.
"Who sent it?"
"I don't know."
"Wrong answer."
"I swear."
Gideon raised a hand.
"Don't kill him."
Mercer laughed nervously.
"How reassuring."
"I didn't say don't hurt him."
The laughter vanished.
Norah stared at Gideon.
For the first time since she'd entered the room, she saw the man behind the rumors.
Not merely a wealthy patient.
Not merely an intimidating employer.
A man accustomed to violence.
Gideon caught her expression.
Something unreadable passed across his face.
"Norah."
"Yes?"
"Leave."
She shook her head.
"No."
Rafael stared at her.
Gideon almost looked amused.
"That wasn't a request."
"Dr. Hart said you have two unknown substances in your bloodstream. Somebody changed your IV while everyone was distracted. And now the doctor who tried to stop me from examining your drink has received a message about killing you."
She pointed toward Mercer.
"If I walk out alone, I'm the easiest person in this house to silence."
Gideon considered that.
"Fair."
He looked at Rafael.
"She stays."
Mercer sank into a chair.
"I didn't poison anyone."
"Then help yourself," Gideon said. "Tell us who did."
Mercer rubbed his face.
For several seconds, he looked twenty years older.
"I received instructions."
"From whom?"
"Anonymous."
"How?"
"Messages."
"How long?"
Mercer looked toward Norah.
"Three weeks."
Gideon's expression became deadly still.
"What instructions?"
"Medication changes. Dietary adjustments. Dosages."
Hart stared at him.
"You altered his treatment based on anonymous messages?"
"They knew things."
"What things?"
Mercer swallowed.
"My daughter."
The room changed.
"They sent photographs of her leaving school. Her apartment. Her boyfriend."
His voice cracked.
"They said if I didn't cooperate, she'd die."
Norah's anger weakened.
Not disappeared.
But changed.
"What did they tell you to give Gideon?" Hart asked.
"I don't know."
"That's impossible."
"They never gave me poison. They instructed me to approve supplements. Changes that looked legitimate."
"The drink?"
Mercer nodded.
"I approved it."
"Who supplied it?"
"I don't know."
Gideon watched him.
"You're lying about something."
Mercer looked away.
Gideon knew.
Norah knew.
Even Hart knew.
Mercer closed his eyes.
"Samuel Vale."
Gideon's fingers tightened.
"What about him?"
"The messages used his name."
"He's dead."
"I know."
"Then why?"
Mercer whispered:
"Because whoever is doing this knows what happened eleven years ago."
Gideon pushed himself upright.
The monitor protested.
Hart reached toward him.
He waved her away.
"What happened eleven years ago?"
Mercer looked terrified.
"I thought you knew."
Gideon's face hardened.
"Tell me."
Mercer opened his mouth.
A gunshot exploded somewhere downstairs.
Norah flinched.
Rafael spun toward the door.
Another shot.
Then another.
His radio erupted.
"Security breach! East corridor!"
Gideon reached beneath his pillow.
Norah stared as he produced a handgun.
"You're dying and you sleep with that?"
"Occupational habit."
Rafael drew his weapon.
"Stay here."
He opened the door.
A guard stumbled into the hallway.
Blood covered his shirt.
"Rafael—"
He collapsed.
Norah rushed forward.
Hart followed.
Rafael caught the guard before his head hit the floor.
"Who?"
The wounded man gasped.
"Kitchen."
"What happened?"
"Someone... got inside."
"Who?"
The guard grabbed Rafael's jacket.
"Not inside."
His eyes widened.
"Staff."
Then the lights went out.
The estate plunged into darkness.
Norah heard Hart gasp.
A metallic crash came from behind them.
Gideon's monitor switched to emergency battery power, filling the bedroom with pale blue light.
Mercer's chair was empty.
The bathroom door moved.
Rafael raised his gun.
"Mercer!"
No answer.
Norah saw a shadow disappear through the service passage.
"He's running."
Rafael followed.
Gideon tried to stand.
His legs buckled.
Norah caught him.
"Absolutely not."
"He's getting away."
"And you'll die before reaching the hallway."
"Norah—"
"Threaten me after your kidneys work."
For one astonished second, Gideon Wolf simply stared at her.
Then a faint laugh escaped him.
It immediately became a cough.
Norah helped him back onto the bed.
Hart worked on the wounded guard.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Footsteps thundered through the service corridor.
Then Rafael returned.
Alone.
"Mercer's gone."
"How?" Gideon demanded.
"Service elevator."
"Lockdown?"
"Somebody overrode it."
Gideon's expression hardened.
"Inside access."
Rafael nodded.
His radio crackled.
Marco's voice came through.
"We found the pharmacy delivery van."
"Where?"
"South garage."
"Driver?"
"Missing."
"Search it."
A pause.
"We did."
Marco sounded strange.
"Rafael, you need to see what's inside."
Twenty minutes later, Norah stood in the underground garage despite Gideon's order that she remain upstairs.
Technically, Gideon was there too.
Rafael had finally surrendered to the absurdity and brought him down in a wheelchair with Hart monitoring him.
The van's rear doors stood open.
Inside were boxes.
Dozens.
Every one labeled with the same medical supplier used by the estate.
Norah picked up a bottle.
"These look identical."
"They are," Hart said.
"Except?"
Hart showed her two labels.
"The lot numbers."
One was genuine.
One wasn't.
Counterfeit medication.
Counterfeit supplements.
Counterfeit nutrition.
All entering Gideon's estate through legitimate deliveries.
"This wasn't one poison," Norah whispered.
Hart nodded.
"It was a system."
Gideon looked toward Rafael.
"Somebody built an entire supply chain to kill me slowly."
"Why slowly?" Norah asked.
Gideon looked at her.
"If I get shot, everyone looks for a shooter."
Hart understood.
"But if you become sick..."
"Everyone looks for a disease."
Norah felt sick.
Twelve doctors hadn't failed because they were incompetent.
They'd been given a puzzle designed to look medical.
Gideon turned his wheelchair toward the van.
"Search everything."
Norah noticed a small cardboard box behind the driver's seat.
Unlike the others, it had no supplier label.
She reached for it.
Rafael stopped her.
"Gloves."
She nodded.
He handed her a pair.
Inside was a ledger.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Initials.
Norah scanned the pages.
Then stopped.
N.B.
Her initials.
She looked closer.
N. BLAKE — $25,000.
Her blood went cold.
Rafael saw it.
So did Gideon.
Nobody spoke.
Norah shook her head.
"No."
Gideon's eyes stayed on the page.
"I didn't take money."
Rafael took the ledger.
"There's more."
Another entry.
N. BLAKE — ACCESS CONFIRMED.
Norah backed away.
"This is a setup."
Rafael's face had become unreadable.
"I know what it looks like."
"I didn't do this."
Gideon said nothing.
That hurt more than accusation.
Norah turned toward him.
"You asked if you could trust me."
His eyes met hers.
"Yes."
"I told you I didn't know."
"I remember."
"Well, I know now."
She stepped closer.
"I didn't poison you."
Gideon studied her.
Then held out his hand.
"Give me the ledger."
Rafael did.
Gideon examined the handwriting.
"Fake."
Rafael frowned.
"How do you know?"
"Because whoever wrote this made one mistake."
He pointed to Norah's name.
"Her employee file doesn't say Norah Blake."
Norah froze.
Rafael looked at her.
"What?"
Gideon raised his eyes.
"It says Norah Elizabeth Blake."
"Maybe they shortened it."
"No."
Gideon turned the ledger around.
"The person who made this knew what everyone here calls her."
Norah understood.
"But not what's in my official record."
"Exactly."
Gideon closed the book.
"This wasn't prepared before she was hired."
Rafael's eyes narrowed.
"It was made by somebody watching her here."
Norah looked toward the garage entrance.
Someone inside the estate.
Someone who knew her routine.
Someone who had seen her clearing Gideon's breakfast.
A security alarm suddenly beeped.
Marco checked his phone.
"What?"
His face tightened.
"Someone just accessed the employee records."
"From where?" Rafael asked.
Marco looked toward the ceiling.
"The old administrative wing."
Norah's stomach dropped.
That wing had been locked for years.
Or so she'd been told.
Then another notification appeared.
Marco stared at it.
"The system says the person used Norah's access card."
Norah reached into her apron pocket.
Empty.
Her card was gone.
Footsteps sounded above them.
Slow.
Measured.
Moving toward the administrative wing.
Gideon looked at Norah.
"Stay behind me."
She stared at his wheelchair.
"You're serious?"
He raised the handgun from beneath his blanket.
"Very."
They reached the old corridor three minutes later.
The final door stood open.
A light burned inside.
On the floor lay Norah's missing access card.
And from somewhere beyond the doorway, a woman's voice quietly said her name.
"Norah Blake."
May you like
Norah stopped.
She knew that voice.
