Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Hallway
I knew I had to act,
but I was a maid with a bank account in the red and a daughter to protect.
If I stepped into that room and accused Julian Vane,
I would be silenced before the sun reached its zenith.
I ducked back into the service corridor,
my mind racing through the layouts of the house.
The trash.
The pharmacy bottle.
If Julian had swapped the meds,
the real bottle—
or the evidence of the fake one—
had to be somewhere.
I remembered the morning trash I had collected from Victor’s private bathroom.
I had left the bag in the mudroom,
waiting to be taken to the incinerator.
I ran,
my soft-soled shoes silent on the Persian rugs,
my breath coming in ragged gasps.
I reached the mudroom and dove into the black plastic bag.
It was disgusting,
full of discarded tissues and cotton swabs,
but I didn't care.
I tore it open,
dumping the contents onto the tiled floor.
There,
buried beneath a pile of discarded mail,
was a small,
clear plastic baggie.
Inside were three white tablets.
They had the score line.
The real medication.
Beside it was a discarded receipt from a local printer’s shop,
not a pharmacy.
The receipt was for 'High-Gloss Adhesive Labels—Custom Order.'
My blood ran cold.
They weren't just giving him the wrong dose;
they were manufacturing an entire fake identity for his medicine.
Suddenly,
the door to the mudroom creaked.
I looked up,
expecting to see a guard or Julian himself.
Instead,
it was Dr. Evan Pierce.
The man Victor trusted with his life.
The man who had given the 'explanations' for Victor’s decline.
He looked at the trash on the floor,
then at the baggie in my hand,
and finally at my face.
His expression didn't change.
He didn't look surprised.
He looked disappointed.
"Elena,"
he said softly,
closing the door behind him and locking it.
"You really should have stayed in the kitchen."
"Some things are too complicated for a maid to understand."
He reached into his medical bag,
May you like
and he didn't pull out a stethoscope.
He pulled out a syringe.
Related Stories
