Chapter 14 - THE MAN WHO CAME TO FINISH IT
Ethan was out the door before Mason finished speaking.
Security alarms sounded somewhere downstairs.
Federal agents stationed outside Olivia's unit moved toward the elevators.
Lucy stayed inside the room.
Ethan made sure the door locked behind him.
“What floor?”
Mason checked his phone.
“Lobby camera caught him five minutes ago.”
“He couldn't get past security.”
“He didn't come through the main elevators.”
Robert appeared from the waiting area.
“There are service elevators.”
Everyone looked at him.
“This hospital expanded fifteen years ago.”
Robert continued.
“The old service shaft connects to the parking structure.”
Ethan ran.
They reached the service corridor seconds later.
A metal door stood open.
Mason called security.
Then footsteps sounded ahead.
Slow.
Measured.
Graham Hale stepped around the corner.
No wheelchair.
No cane.
No stroke.
He wore a dark overcoat and leather gloves.
In one hand, he carried a slim black case.
Ethan stopped.
Graham smiled.
“There you are.”
“You're done.”
“People have been telling me that for thirty years.”
Agents approached from behind Ethan.
Graham looked toward them.
“I suppose this is unnecessary.”
He set the case on the floor.
“Hands where we can see them.”
Graham raised them slowly.
Robert stepped forward.
“Why did you come here?”
Graham looked at him.
“Robert.”
His smile widened.
“Still making other people clean up your mistakes?”
Robert's face tightened.
“You destroyed our families.”
“No.”
Graham looked toward Ethan.
“I built them.”
Ethan stared at him.
“What happened to my mother?”
For the first time, Graham's expression changed.
Not fear.
Annoyance.
“She was emotional.”
“What happened?”
“She drove too fast.”
“Did you follow her?”
“Yes.”
“Did you cause the crash?”
Graham smiled faintly.
“That's a very dramatic question.”
Ethan took one step forward.
Agents immediately blocked him.
Graham continued.
“Your mother wanted to expose Robert's crimes.”
Robert shouted.
“Leave Elizabeth out of this.”
Graham laughed.
“You left her out of everything when it mattered.”
Robert looked ready to collapse.
Ethan kept his eyes on Graham.
“What did you do?”
Graham tilted his head.
“I frightened her.”
“With what?”
“The truth.”
“What truth?”
“That if she exposed Robert, thousands of employees would lose everything.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“She still intended to report him.”
“Yes.”
“So you followed her.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Graham said nothing.
Then an agent picked up the black case.
“What is this?”
Graham looked at Ethan.
“A gift.”
The case was opened carefully.
Inside were documents.
Original loan papers.
Original offshore transfer records.
And photographs from the night Elizabeth died.
Ethan stared.
One showed his mother's car on the roadside.
Another showed Graham standing beside it.
Another showed a second vehicle.
“Who took these?”
Graham smiled.
“Insurance.”
“For who?”
“Myself.”
Ethan looked closer.
The second car belonged to a security contractor.
Dana Cross's father had worked for that contractor.
Graham saw recognition in his face.
“People assume powerful men do terrible things themselves.”
He shrugged.
“We rarely do.”
Ethan went cold.
“You ordered someone to run my mother's car off the road.”
Graham did not answer.
He didn't need to.
Robert lunged.
Agents caught him.
“You murdered her.”
Robert screamed.
Graham looked almost bored.
“Careful.”
“You murdered my wife.”
“You created the circumstances.”
Robert struggled harder.
Ethan stared at his father.
That was Graham's weapon.
Not denial.
Shared guilt.
Then Graham looked toward Olivia's room.
“I came because one loose end remained.”
Every agent became alert.
Ethan stepped forward.
“You will never get near her.”
Graham smiled.
“I don't need to.”
“What does that mean?”
Graham said nothing.
A nurse ran around the corner.
“Mr. Pierce.”
Ethan turned.
Her face was terrified.
“You need to come now.”
He ran back to room 417.
Lucy stood beside the bed crying.
Olivia's monitor screamed.
Doctors surrounded her.
Ethan stopped in the doorway.
“What happened?”
The nurse looked at him.
“She suddenly stopped responding.”
Ethan's eyes went to the IV bag.
A clear line ran into Olivia's arm.
Then he remembered Graham's words.
One loose end remained.
May you like
Ethan looked at the nurse.
“Who changed that IV?”
