Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN DAVID BURIEDThe curtain slid aside.
A thin woman emerged wearing a dark coat over hospital clothes.
Her hair, once black, had turned almost entirely silver. A scar crossed the left side of her forehead, but her eyes remained unmistakable.
Jessica stumbled backward.
“Mother?”
Dr. Helena Cole looked directly at her daughter.
“You should have asked where David buried me.”
Jessica covered her mouth.
Three years earlier, Helena’s car had been discovered near a harbor after an apparent accident. The vehicle was burned beyond recognition, and investigators found what they believed were human remains inside.
Jessica had identified her mother’s necklace.
David had arranged the funeral.
Helena now stood alive inside Evelyn’s bedroom.
David recovered from the shock first.
“This woman is mentally unstable.”
Helena reached inside her coat and removed a flash drive.
“You told the private clinic the same thing.”
Jessica looked between them.
“What clinic?”
“The one where he kept me after I discovered what he was doing.”
Helena’s voice remained controlled, but her hands trembled.
“I treated Evelyn during the first month of her illness. Her symptoms did not match the diagnosis David wanted placed in her records.”
David pointed toward her.
“She falsified those records herself.”
“At your demand.”
“You were taking medication. You were confused.”
“You imprisoned me.”
Jessica shook her head.
“No. He told me you died immediately.”
Helena’s expression hardened.
“He wanted you to believe that.”
The police sirens stopped outside the house.
Doors slammed on the driveway.
Heavy footsteps entered the lower floor.
David returned to the bedroom doors and struck the panel again.
“Samuel, unlock this room.”
“Not until the police arrive.”
“You have created an illegal detention.”
“You created a murder scene.”
Evelyn focused on her computer.
The screen displayed a new sentence.
THE INFUSION PUMP.
Helena noticed the words first.
She turned sharply toward the machine beside the bed.
A clear bag hung above an electronic pump connected to Evelyn’s arm.
Helena hurried closer.
“What did the nurse administer?”
David said nothing.
Helena examined the display.
Her face changed.
“Samuel, the pump was reprogrammed.”
David moved toward the bed.
Helena blocked him.
“You set a timed dose.”
Jessica stared at him.
“What did you do?”
David looked almost offended.
“What was necessary.”
“You said she would die in her sleep.”
“She was supposed to.”
The machine gave a warning beep.
Helena pressed the stop button.
The screen flashed red.
CONTROL LOCKED.
“It won’t stop,” she said.
Jessica grabbed David’s arm.
“You told me tonight.”
David pulled away.
“She was never supposed to activate anything.”
The bedroom doors unlocked.
Four police officers entered with weapons drawn, followed by two paramedics.
Samuel Reed came behind them, his dark suit damp from the rain.
He took in the room immediately.
“Get David away from the bed.”
Officers seized David.
Jessica raised both hands.
“I didn’t touch the machine.”
Helena pointed to the infusion line.
“Disconnect it.”
A paramedic clamped the tube and removed the needle.
Evelyn’s monitor began sounding faster.
Helena examined her pupils.
“She has already received part of the dose.”
Samuel moved to Evelyn’s side.
“Evelyn, stay with me.”
Her eyes struggled to focus.
The monitor’s rhythm became uneven.
David watched from across the room.
For the first time, fear disappeared from his face.
He looked relieved.
Samuel saw it.
“You expected this.”
David smiled faintly.
“You cannot prosecute someone for inheriting from his wife.”
Samuel stepped toward him.
“You are not inheriting anything.”
David’s smile vanished.
Samuel reached into his jacket and produced a sealed document.
“Evelyn changed her will four months ago.”
“That is impossible.”
“She signed through an authorized communication system in front of witnesses.”
“She lacked capacity.”
“She anticipated that argument.”
The paramedics transferred Evelyn onto a portable stretcher.
Jessica moved closer to her mother.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
Helena’s eyes filled with anger.
“I tried. David intercepted every message.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Ask him about the hotel in Baltimore.”
Jessica turned.
David looked away.
Her expression collapsed.
The Baltimore hotel was where David had first approached her two years earlier. He had told her the meeting was accidental.
Helena watched the realization spread across her daughter’s face.
“He did not fall in love with you, Jessica. He recruited you.”
Police pulled David toward the hallway.
He resisted.
“You have nothing without Evelyn’s testimony.”
Samuel glanced toward the bed.
“She has already testified.”
“Through a machine controlled by you.”
David leaned closer.
“When she dies tonight, every statement you obtained will be challenged.”
The medical monitor released a continuous tone.
Everyone turned.
Evelyn’s body had gone still.
The paramedic placed two fingers against her neck.
“No pulse.”
Samuel’s face lost all color.
Helena pushed forward.
“Begin resuscitation.”
The officers moved David into the hallway, but he twisted enough to see the bed.
Jessica stared at Evelyn.
Samuel gripped the rail of the stretcher as the paramedics began working.
“Evelyn,” he said. “You did not survive six months to die now.”
There was no response.
The monitor continued its single unbroken sound.
David’s voice traveled from the doorway.
“It is over, Samuel.”
Then the bedroom computer illuminated by itself.
A countdown appeared on the screen.
00:59.
00:58.
00:57.
Beneath it, one final message appeared.
IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH, RELEASE FILE EDWARD STERLING.
Samuel stared at the name.
Edward Sterling had been Evelyn’s father.
He had died in a car accident twelve years earlier.
Helena looked at David.
For the first time, David began struggling violently against the officers.
“Destroy that computer!”
As the countdown continued, Samuel understood something that changed the entire case.
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Evelyn had not created Protocol Black only to expose her own attempted murder.
She had created it to expose the first Sterling murder.
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