Page 70 of The Smart Killer
Mia, unfazed, responded sharply, “Use the one downstairs.”
The knocking persisted as Darla, under pressure, admitted, “Zeke questioned him about your father being a cop. He gave him a drink. I was just there to keep him company.”
Mia nodded, probing further. “And what was in it?”
Darla spat out, “Liquid morphine, a couple of other things, it’s one of Zeke’s concoctions.”
“And?”
“Ethan started having trouble breathing. Zeke took him and said he would take him home to sleep it off.”
Mia, somewhat satisfied but still skeptical, asked, “That’s it?”
Darla nodded, saying, “That’s all I know.”
Mia retrieved her cell phone from her pocket and hit stop, revealing she had recorded the confession. “Thank you,” Mia said. Darla’s eyes widened as she realized she’d been recorded.
Just as the tension in the bathroom rose, the knock on the door persisted.
“Occupied,” Mia called out.
Ignoring the warning, the knocking continued.
Mia released Darla and unlocked the door, ready to tell them to fuck off, only to find herself face-to-face with Zeke and two other guys. Behind them stood Ricky, who smirked and declared, “I told you, this place is a paradise.”
23
In the hushed, sterile glow of the Adirondack Medical Center, the late hour of the night cast shadows across the weary face of Noah. He sat in the waiting room, his laptop glowing softly before him, its screen flickering as he delved into the abyss of online research. All the while, his father Hugh sat across from him, the silence hanging heavy between them.
“You must be pleased,” Hugh’s voice cut through the quiet, a statement that seemed to carry more weight than the words themselves.
Noah lifted his eyes from the laptop, his expression guarded. “With?”
“Well, that I’m here and not at that house of horrors,” Hugh replied, a sardonic twist to his lips as if finding the whole matter amusing.
Noah removed his reading glasses, his gaze steady. “Three families are dead, and one of the victims was Callie’s sister. Two of them had a letter sent to them before they died. Is it so strange that I wouldn’t want you to fall prey to the same lunatic?”
“Ah, I see. You don’t want anything bad to happen to me.”
“Right.”
The gravity of the situation etched lines on Noah’s face, shadows playing on his furrowed brow. Hugh squinted at his son; his concern mirrored in his eyes. “So, I could ask you the same. Is it strange that I wouldn’t want something bad to happen to you or Alicia?”
A tense silence passed before Noah realized Hugh’s reference to the tracking device. “I’m not doing this again, Dad. I said my piece. Let’s leave it at that,” he declared, a hint of frustration in his voice.
Hugh chuckled, a knowing sound that danced on the edge of the unspoken tension. “Yes, but I never…”
The air thickened with unsaid words as Noah shut down any further discussion. “I’m not rehashing this. You overstepped the line, and you know it,” he asserted, the creases on his forehead deepening.
Just as the verbal exchange reached an impasse, the main doors of the medical center opened, admitting a new presence into the room. Mia, her entrance a fleeting moment in their peripheral vision, made a determined beeline for Gretchen. She glanced at Noah as she moved purposefully across the room, saying something to Gretchen before gesturing toward the vending area.
Curiosity tinged with worry spurred Noah into action. Rising from his seat, he crossed the distance to the vending area, where Ray had gone minutes ago to get himself a coffee. Meanwhile, Hugh seized the opportunity to insert one last comment about him not listening, a respite from the heavier conversation that had just transpired.
Noah lingered near the doorway.
“I had a confession, Uncle Ray. Everything. But they broke my phone. I’m telling you they are the ones responsible for Ethan.”
The vending room became the stage for an unexpected revelation.
