CHAPTER 3 — Blood in the Bentley
CHAPTER 3 — Blood in the Bentley
The words struck Evelyn harder than the fall.
"There was blood inside."
For one suspended heartbeat, every sound inside Holloway Manor disappeared.
Then the foyer exploded into motion.
"Call the forensic unit."
"Seal every entrance."
"Nobody leaves this property."
Detective Daniel Ruiz issued commands without raising his voice. His calmness only made the urgency more frightening.
Evelyn tried to stand.
A sharp pain shot through her abdomen.
Ruiz caught her before she could collapse.
"You need an ambulance."
"I need my husband."
"You need to stay alive."
"My husband is missing."
"So are the people who may have taken him."
She stared at him.
"You think this wasn't Vanessa?"
Ruiz didn't answer immediately.
He had spent eighteen years investigating wealthy families.
He knew one rule better than any detective in the city.
The person who pushes...
isn't always the person who plans.
Twenty minutes later.
Rain soaked the deserted highway where Richard Holloway's black Bentley sat abandoned against the shoulder.
Its driver's door hung open.
One headlight remained on.
The engine was cold.
Forensic technicians worked beneath portable floodlights.
Ruiz crouched beside the driver's seat.
Blood covered the leather.
Enough to frighten anyone.
Not enough to guarantee death.
A technician approached.
"Preliminary observation."
Ruiz looked up.
"The blood spatter is strange."
"How?"
"It isn't consistent with someone being attacked inside the vehicle."
Ruiz frowned.
The technician continued.
"It looks..."
"...placed."
Ruiz's eyes narrowed.
Someone wanted them to believe Richard had been kidnapped.
Or murdered.
Another officer hurried over.
"We found this fifty yards away."
He held up a luxury wristwatch sealed inside an evidence bag.
Richard's watch.
The crystal was cracked.
Its leather strap had been deliberately cut.
Not torn.
Cut.
Ruiz whispered to himself.
"A staged crime scene."
The officer nodded.
"That's what we're thinking."
Ruiz stood.
"Run DNA on every drop of blood."
"It'll take a few hours."
"I want it yesterday."
Back at Holloway Manor...
Vanessa sat inside the library.
No handcuffs.
No phone.
No lawyer.
Just silence.
She kept replaying the moment Evelyn made the phone call.
She had planned everything perfectly.
Richard believed Evelyn was becoming paranoid.
The household staff trusted Vanessa.
The baby would never be born.
The inheritance would shift.
Everything had been calculated.
Everything...
except hidden cameras.
The library door opened.
Ruiz entered carrying a tablet.
"I'd like you to watch something."
Vanessa folded her arms.
"My attorney isn't here."
"You aren't being questioned."
He placed the tablet on the table.
The video began.
The staircase.
Evelyn climbing slowly.
Vanessa approaching from behind.
The argument.
The shove.
The fall.
Crystal-clear.
High definition.
No missing angles.
No blind spots.
Vanessa watched herself commit the crime.
When the recording ended, she remained perfectly still.
Then...
she smiled.
Ruiz noticed immediately.
Most guilty people cried.
Some denied.
Others begged.
Vanessa smiled.
"You think that's enough?"
Ruiz said nothing.
She leaned forward.
"You can arrest me for assault."
Another smile.
"But attempted murder?"
She shook her head.
"You'll never prove I meant to kill her."
Ruiz watched her carefully.
She was confident.
Too confident.
As though she believed something far worse would distract everyone very soon.
He stood.
One final question.
"Where is Richard?"
Her smile vanished.
"I thought you were supposed to tell me."
Meanwhile...
Upstairs...
An obstetrician examined Evelyn in the master bedroom.
"The baby is alive."
Evelyn closed her eyes in relief.
"But..."
She opened them again.
"You've suffered partial placental separation."
The doctor's voice became serious.
"Any additional stress could trigger premature labor."
"I don't have a choice."
"You do."
"No."
Evelyn looked toward the rain outside.
"If Richard is alive..."
"...I'm the only person he'll trust."
Late that night...
Ruiz finally received the DNA report.
He opened the file.
Read one line.
Then read it again.
The blood inside Richard's Bentley...
did not belong to Richard Holloway.
Ruiz stared into the darkness.
If Richard wasn't bleeding...
then whose blood filled his car?
His phone rang before he could think further.
The forensic captain sounded shaken.
"Detective..."
"We found another body."
Ruiz's heart sank.
"Who?"
"We don't know."
"But..."
He hesitated.
"The victim was wearing Richard Holloway's clothes."
CHAPTER 4 — The Man Wearing Richard Holloway
The morgue was silent except for the hum of refrigeration units.
Detective Ruiz pulled back the white sheet.
The dead man looked, at first glance, exactly like Richard Holloway.
The same tailored suit.
The same expensive shoes.
The same platinum wedding band.
Even the same hairstyle.
But one look at the fingerprints ended the illusion.
It wasn't Richard.
The face...
had been surgically altered.
Ruiz felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Someone hadn't simply planned a murder.
Someone had planned to erase a man.
At Holloway Manor, Evelyn couldn't sleep.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She answered without speaking.
A man's breathing filled the line.
Then...
"Evelyn."
Her heart stopped.
Richard.
"I'm alive."
Tears filled her eyes.
"Where are you?"
"I don't know."
His voice sounded weak.
"I wake up in different rooms."
"They keep moving me."
"You have to tell Detective Ruiz—"
The line crackled.
"They're inside the company."
"What?"
"The person behind this..."
"...isn't after our money."
Static swallowed half the sentence.
"They're after Project Atlas."
Evelyn frowned.
Project Atlas.
Richard had sworn that project had been canceled years ago.
The call suddenly cut off.
Ruiz arrived minutes later after tracing the incoming signal.
"Can you trace him?"
"Only roughly."
"Where?"
Ruiz looked frustrated.
"The phone bounced through six relay devices."
"So?"
"It could have been anywhere within fifty miles."
Evelyn clenched her fists.
"They wanted us to hear him."
Ruiz nodded.
"Which means the call wasn't a mistake."
"It was a message."
Downstairs...
One of the forensic officers interrupted.
"Detective."
Ruiz turned.
"We finished searching Vanessa's room."
"And?"
"We found passports."
"Fake identities."
"Cash."
"And this."
He handed Ruiz a small brass key.
Engraved on it were two words.
LOCKER 317.
No bank name.
No address.
Just a number.
Vanessa watched through the interrogation room window as Ruiz examined the key.
For the first time since her arrest...
she looked afraid.
Not because the police had found it.
Because they had found it too early.
That same night, miles away...
A man sat in total darkness inside an abandoned warehouse.
Richard Holloway was chained to a steel chair.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Still alive.
Across from him, another man slowly removed black leather gloves.
"You've caused us more trouble than expected."
Richard looked up.
"You'll never get Atlas."
The stranger smiled.
"Oh..."
"We already have half of it."
He slid a tablet across the floor.
Richard looked down.
The screen displayed live security footage.
Holloway Manor.
Every room.
Every hallway.
Every conversation.
Richard's blood ran cold.
There were hidden cameras in the mansion.
But not the ones Evelyn had installed.
May you like
Someone else...
had been watching them all along.
