Chapter 10 - THE PEARL EARRING

Marcus survived.

Barely.

The substance in his IV was a sedative combined with enough insulin to kill him if the nurse had not checked his blood sugar.

Daria denied everything.

Of course she did.

She gave an interview that evening wearing a different pair of earrings.

“My son is grieving,” she told reporters. “I love him. I hope he receives help.”

I watched from the hotel suite.

Catherine threw the remote onto the couch.

“She’s good.”

“She always has been.”

“No. She’s terrifying.”

I could not argue.

Naomi’s team identified the fake nurse as Elise Harrow, a former private military medic who had worked for one of Daria’s security contractors.

Elise disappeared after the hospital attack.

But her car was found at an airport parking garage.

Inside was a burner phone.

On it, one unsent text.

THE REPORTER KNOWS ABOUT THE WILL.

“What reporter?” I asked.

Naomi looked at Luis.

He already knew.

“Jenna Cole. City Ledger.”

Jenna had called my office three times in the last week.

I had ignored her.

We reached her apartment at 9:20 p.m.

The door was open.

Furniture overturned.

Laptop gone.

No Jenna.

On the kitchen floor, written in lipstick, were two words.

ASK SAMUEL.

My phone rang.

Unknown number.

I answered.

A woman whispered.

“Samuel?”

“Jenna?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Are you hurt?”

“She found out I had documents.”

“What documents?”

Jenna breathed rapidly.

“Your father sent them to my editor seven years ago. The editor buried the story.”

“Why?”

“Daria paid him.”

I closed my eyes.

“What do the documents prove?”

“Offshore accounts. Bribes. Payments to Weston. Payments to the coroner. And one transfer to a company owned by a man named Victor Hale.”

Catherine went pale.

“Victor.”

I covered the phone.

“Who is he?”

“The man who ran Hawthorne Ridge.”

Jenna continued.

“There’s more, Samuel.”

“What?”

“Victor Hale is in the city.”

My blood ran cold.

“Why?”

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Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“He came back for Penelope.”