“For killing Dana?”
Linda said nothing.
Marcus slowly stepped backward.
Evan noticed.
“You knew?”
Marcus shook his head.
Linda laughed bitterly.
“Marcus knows everything.”
Marcus snapped:
“Don’t drag me into this.”
Linda turned toward him.
“You dragged all of us into it.”
Evan grabbed the edge of the trunk.
“Who killed my wife?”
Linda looked at him.
Then said:
“You did.”
Evan went completely still.
“No.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
Linda continued.
“Not the crash.”
“The hospital.”
Evan’s face emptied.
“What hospital?”
Linda took the recorder from him.
“There’s another file.”
She pressed a button.
A different recording began.
Not Dana.
A man’s voice.
A doctor.
“Patient Dana Mercer regained consciousness at 2:14 a.m.”
Evan stared.
Marcus’s expression tightened.
The recording continued.
“She asked for her husband.”
Evan whispered:
“She survived?”
Linda nodded.
“For eleven hours.”
Evan grabbed Marcus.
“You told me she died at the scene.”
Marcus struggled.
“That’s what I was told.”
Linda shouted:
“LIAR.”
Evan released him.
Linda continued.
“Dana was alive.”
“She was conscious.”
“And she told the hospital she needed police protection.”
Evan looked sick.
“What happened?”
Linda opened another envelope.
Inside were hospital access records.
One name appeared at 3:08 a.m.
Evan Mercer.
Evan stared.
“I was unconscious.”
Linda nodded.
“You were.”
Evan looked at her.
“Then how was I there?”
Marcus said nothing.
Linda looked at him.
“Because someone used Evan’s identification.”
Evan slowly turned toward Marcus.
Marcus shook his head.
“Don’t.”
Linda continued.
“Someone signed in as Evan.”
“Went upstairs.”
“Entered Dana’s room.”
“And eleven minutes later…”
She swallowed.
“…Dana went into cardiac arrest.”
Evan stared at Marcus.
“You killed her.”
Marcus shouted:
“No.”
Linda said:
“Then show him your left hand.”
Marcus froze.
Evan frowned.
“What?”
Linda stepped closer.
“Show him.”
Marcus didn’t move.
Evan grabbed his wrist.
Marcus tried to pull away.
Evan forced his hand open.
A deep scar ran across the palm.
Linda whispered:
“Dana fought whoever entered that room.”
“She had skin under her nails.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Evan stared.
Linda continued.
“The sample disappeared from evidence.”
Marcus said:
“This proves nothing.”
Linda nodded.
“Correct.”
Then she reached into her pocket.
“And that’s why I kept this.”
A tiny evidence vial.
Marcus stared.
“What is that?”
Linda smiled faintly.
“The sample.”
Everything stopped.
Marcus lunged.
Evan shoved him against the storage wall.
Linda stepped away.
Marcus shouted:
“You stupid woman!”
Evan froze.
Marcus had just confirmed it without realizing.
Linda stared at him.
“So you do know what it is.”
Marcus stopped talking.
Evan’s voice dropped.
“You killed Dana.”
Marcus looked at him.
Then laughed.
“No.”
Evan’s eyes narrowed.
Marcus continued.
“I paid someone to kill Dana.”
Linda’s face changed.
Evan stared.
“Who?”
Marcus looked directly at Linda.
Evan slowly turned.
Linda’s expression collapsed.
“No.”
Marcus smiled.
“Tell him.”
Evan looked at her.
Linda backed away.
“Marcus is lying.”
“He always lies.”
Marcus said:
“Then explain the houses.”
Evan looked at Linda.
She couldn’t.
Marcus continued.
“Twelve houses.”
“Transferred to Linda.”
“Worth nearly four million dollars.”
“Payment after Dana died.”
Evan whispered:
“Linda…”
She closed her eyes.
Then said:
“I didn’t kill Dana.”
Marcus laughed.
“You were in the room.”
Linda opened her eyes.
“Yes.”
Evan stared.
She continued.
“I went there because Marcus told me Dana was going to confess.”
Evan’s face hardened.
Linda whispered:
“I was supposed to convince her to stay quiet.”
“Nothing more.”
Marcus snapped:
“That’s not what happened.”
Linda ignored him.
“When I arrived, Dana was terrified.”
“She told me Marcus had ordered the crash.”
Marcus shouted:
“She caused the crash!”
Linda nodded.
“Because you manipulated her.”
Marcus said nothing.
Linda continued.
“She told me everything.”
“The forged deeds.”
“The fake liens.”
“The judges.”
“The bribes.”
“She wanted to confess.”
Evan asked:
“Then why did she die?”
Linda looked down.
“Because someone came in after me.”
Marcus said:
“You.”
Linda shook her head.
“I left.”
Marcus laughed.
“Security footage says otherwise.”
Linda looked at him.
“What footage?”
Marcus smiled.
Evan noticed.
“You kept footage?”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
Too late.
Linda stared at him.
“You told me the hospital cameras weren’t working.”
Marcus said nothing.
Evan stepped closer.
“Where is the footage?”
Marcus looked away.
Linda suddenly understood.
“The watch.”
Evan looked at her.
“What?”
She grabbed the gold wristwatch from the trunk.
Turned it over.
There was a tiny recessed panel.
Linda pressed it.
A microSD card popped out.
Marcus’s face went white.
Evan stared.
“What is that?”
Linda whispered:
“Dana’s watch recorded audio and short video clips.”
Evan looked at Marcus.
Marcus ran.
Evan tackled him before he reached the SUV.
They hit the concrete hard.
Linda shouted for help.
Auction buyers nearby started running over.
Evan pinned Marcus down.
“You’re not leaving.”
Marcus laughed into the pavement.
“You still don’t understand.”
Evan tightened his grip.
“What?”
Marcus turned his head.
“Dana wasn’t trying to save you.”
Evan stared.
Marcus smiled.
“She was trying to save herself from you.”
Evan froze.
Linda shouted:
“Don’t listen to him.”
Marcus continued.
“You think Dana discovered the scam?”
“No.”
“She designed it.”
Evan’s grip loosened.
Marcus rolled him off and stood.
Linda stared at him.
Marcus pointed at the trunk.
“Those fake liens.”
“The eviction system.”
“The shell corporations.”
“That was Dana.”
Evan shook his head.
“No.”
Marcus laughed.
“You were the one who wanted out.”
Evan stared.
Marcus continued.
“You discovered your wife had stolen more than forty homes.”
“You threatened to expose her.”
“That’s why she cut the brakes.”
Linda whispered:
“He’s twisting it.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Then play the card.”
Evan looked at the memory card in Linda’s hand.
She hesitated.
He took it.
There was a laptop inside one of the boxes.
They inserted the card.
A video file appeared.
Hospital room.
Dana.
Alive.
Weak.
Bandage across her forehead.
She was speaking to someone off-camera.
Evan leaned closer.
Dana whispered:
“If Evan remembers, we’re all finished.”
Evan’s face changed.
Another voice.
Linda’s.
“Then tell him the truth.”
Dana:
“I can’t.”
Linda:
“He deserves to know.”
Dana started crying.
“Evan wasn’t my partner.”
A pause.
“He was investigating me.”
Evan stared.
Marcus smiled.
“There.”
The video continued.
Dana:
“He pretended to join us so he could collect evidence.”
Marcus’s smile vanished.
Evan looked at him.
Dana continued.
“And Marcus believed him.”
Linda looked at Evan.
“So you were undercover?”
Evan stared at the screen.
He didn’t remember.
But suddenly another flash hit him.
A hidden microphone.
A motel room.
A federal badge in someone’s hand.
A voice saying:
“Stay close to Dana.”
Evan grabbed his head.
Linda stepped toward him.
“Evan?”
He whispered:
“I wasn’t a property buyer.”
Marcus backed away.
The memory returned in pieces.
Files.
Encrypted emails.
Meetings with investigators.
Then one name.
Special Agent Robert Hale.
Evan looked up.
“I was working with the FBI.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Linda stared.
“What?”
Evan remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
“I infiltrated their company.”
“I married Dana because…”
He stopped.
Linda whispered:
“Because what?”
Evan looked sick.
“Because she found out I was investigating her.”
Marcus laughed.
“And you married her anyway.”
Evan looked at him.
“No.”
Then another memory hit.
A courthouse.
Dana crying.
A deal.
Evan whispered:
“She offered evidence.”
Linda stared.
“She wanted immunity.”
Evan nodded slowly.
“We got married so Marcus would trust me.”
Marcus’s face twisted.
“You lying bastard.”
Evan looked at him.
“You knew?”
Marcus stepped backward.
“No.”
Evan suddenly remembered the crash.
Dana screaming.
Brakes failing.
Then Dana grabbing the steering wheel.
But not to kill him.
To avoid a child standing in the road.
Evan stared at the ground.
“She didn’t sabotage the brakes.”
Linda frowned.
“What?”
Evan looked at Marcus.
“You did.”
Marcus ran.
This time police sirens were already approaching.
Linda had called them minutes earlier.
Marcus stopped.
Looked around.
Nowhere to go.
He raised his hands.
But then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
And smiled.
Evan noticed.
“What?”
Marcus answered.
Said nothing.
Listened.
Then looked directly at Evan.
“You really want the truth?”
Evan stared.
Marcus put the phone on speaker.
A woman’s voice came through.
Older.
Calm.
Very familiar.
Evan’s face changed.
The woman said:
“Evan, don’t believe anything Marcus tells you.”
Evan stopped breathing.
He knew that voice.
Not from the recorder.
From memory.
Linda whispered:
“Who is that?”
Evan stared at the phone.
The woman continued:
“I’m sorry they made you think I died.”
Evan’s knees nearly gave out.
Marcus smiled.
Evan whispered:
“Dana?”
The woman answered:
“Yes.”
Linda covered her mouth.
Marcus laughed.
Evan stared at the phone.
“But I watched your funeral.”
Dana’s voice remained calm.
“No, Evan.”
A pause.
“You watched Marcus bury someone else.”
Evan turned slowly toward Marcus.
Dana continued:
“And if you opened Unit 314…”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“…then he knows I’m coming back.”
