Hollis disappeared before sunrise.
His apartment was empty.
His phone disconnected.
His emergency service supervisor said he had called at 5:20 a.m. and resigned without explanation.
Alice listened while Danny relayed the information.
Stefano sat at the table.
Nero remained under Alice’s chair.
Carmine stood by the window.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then Carmine said, “He’s running.”
Alice shook her head.
“Or someone wants us to think he is.”
Danny frowned.
“He was on camera.”
“Yes.”
“He worked the ambulance.”
“Yes.”
“He watched Voss try to inject Stefano.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So he could be involved. Or he could be scared because he saw something.”
Carmine looked impatient.
“You want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.”
“No. I want the right person.”
Stefano’s gaze settled on her.
“Find him.”
Alice almost laughed.
“I’m a nurse.”
“You found the medication.”
“Because it was medical.”
“You found the lab pattern.”
“Medical.”
“You caught Voss.”
“Also medical.”
Stefano leaned back.
“I’m noticing a theme.”
“I am not your detective.”
“No.”
His eyes softened by a fraction.
“You’re better. Detectives in my world often see what they expect to see.”
Alice stared at him.
“That might be the first terrible compliment I’ve ever received.”
Danny’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“Hollis is at Rhode Island Hospital.”
Alice stood.
“What happened?”
“He was hit by a car.”
Twenty-five minutes later Alice walked into the emergency department where she had worked dozens of agency shifts.
Hollis was alive.
Barely.
A fractured pelvis.
Two broken ribs.
Concussion.
Internal bleeding controlled.
The police believed it might have been a hit-and-run.
Alice did not.
She entered his room alone.
Hollis opened his eyes.
Recognition came slowly.
“Alice.”
“Hi.”
His lips were dry.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I get that a lot lately.”
Fear appeared in his face.
“They’ll see you.”
“Who?”
Hollis closed his eyes.
Alice pulled her chair closer.
“I saw the footage.”
His eyes opened.
“Then you think I did it.”
“I think you were at the mansion.”
“I was.”
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“Voss.”
Alice’s pulse increased.
“What about him?”
“He paid me.”
“For what?”
Hollis’s eyes filled with shame.
“To deliver medication.”
Alice waited.
“What medication?”
“I don’t know.”
“You carried a case into Stefano’s mansion and didn’t know?”
“He said it was private treatment. Testosterone, anti-aging stuff. Rich patient confidentiality.”
“You believed that?”
“I needed the money.”
Alice understood more than she wanted to.
“How much?”
“Five thousand.”
Her expression changed.
“That should have made you suspicious.”
“It did.”
“But you went.”
Hollis stared at the ceiling.
“My daughter needs surgery.”
Alice became quiet.
“She was born with a heart defect. Insurance denied the out-of-network specialist. I was working double shifts.”
He laughed weakly.
“So when Voss offered cash, I didn’t ask enough questions.”
“What happened after you delivered the case?”
“Nothing.”
“And the ambulance?”
Hollis looked at her.
“I knew.”
Alice stopped breathing.
“Knew what?”
“That vial wasn’t right.”
“You knew the medication Voss tried to give Stefano was dangerous?”
“I knew the dose was aggressive.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
His face tightened.
“Because he told me if anyone questioned him, I was to stay quiet.”
Alice felt anger rising.
“You watched him move a syringe toward a dying man.”
“I know.”
“You would have let him inject it.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Hollis finally looked at her.
“Because I was scared.”
Alice stood.
For a second, she wanted to leave.
Then Hollis grabbed weakly at her sleeve.
“When you stopped him, I knew something was wrong.”
Alice looked down.
“That’s why I confirmed the pressure.”
“Yes.”
“And later?”
“I went back to the ambulance after surgery.”
“The missing paperwork.”
Hollis shook his head.
“Already gone.”
“Who took it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you disappear this morning?”
“Voss called.”
Alice became still.
“What did he say?”
“He knew you were looking at the old bloodwork.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Hollis’s voice dropped.
“He said, ‘The nurse has become a problem.’”
Alice felt ice in her chest.
“Anything else?”
“He asked me to meet him.”
“Where?”
Hollis swallowed.
“Parking garage near the marina.”
“And you went?”
“I was going to record him.”
“You should have gone to police.”
“I was already guilty.”
“You were guilty of accepting money and carrying a medical bag. That isn’t the same as murder.”
“I panicked.”
“What happened?”
“A car came through the garage.”
“Did you see the driver?”
“No.”
“Did Voss show?”
“No.”
Hollis’s fingers tightened around the sheet.
“But there’s something you need.”
“What?”
“In my apartment.”
“Where?”
“Kitchen. Under the bottom drawer.”
“What is it?”
“The delivery case.”
Alice stared.
“You kept it?”
“I got scared after the ambulance. Went back to the mansion storage area where Voss told me to leave it. Took it before anyone noticed.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Against Voss?”
Hollis closed his eyes.
“Against everyone.”
Alice called Danny.
Stefano’s men reached the apartment before anyone else.
The medical case remained beneath the drawer.
Inside were empty vials.
Syringes.
Labels.
And a small black notebook.
Voss’s handwriting covered six pages.
Dosages.
Dates.
Stefano’s initials.
Lab values.
Alice read them from the safety of Stefano’s study while Danny stood behind her.
“It’s a protocol,” she whispered.
“For what?”
Alice turned a page.
“He was testing how much medication he could give Stefano without creating symptoms obvious enough to raise suspicion.”
Stefano sat across from her.
His face contained no emotion.
Alice continued.
“The doses gradually increased.”
“Why?”
“To determine how your body metabolized it.”
Carmine’s voice was rough.
“So he could make sure Stefano bled out.”
Alice nodded.
“But that still doesn’t explain the explosion.”
Danny pointed to the notebook.
“Maybe Voss arranged it.”
“Maybe.”
Stefano watched Alice.
“You don’t believe it.”
“I believe Voss planned for you to die.”
“Difference?”
“A doctor knows medicine. Explosives and security systems require another skill set.”
Carmine slowly understood.
“A partner.”
“Yes.”
Stefano stood.
Too fast.
Alice immediately rose.
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You almost fell.”
“I did not.”
“You grabbed the table.”
“The table was nearby.”
“Sit.”
Stefano stared at her.
Carmine and Danny looked anywhere else.
Finally Stefano sat.
Alice checked his blood pressure.
“Your body doesn’t care that you’re feared across New England.”
His voice softened.
“You’ve said something similar before.”
“Because apparently nobody else tells you.”
“You do.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Alice looked at him.
There were several answers.
Because he was her patient.
Because someone had tried to murder him.
Because she had watched powerful men abandon logic around him and had decided somebody needed to remain normal.
But there was another answer she did not want to examine.
She cared whether he lived.
Not because of money.
Not anymore.
“I’m a nurse.”
Stefano held her gaze.
Neither of them believed that was the whole answer.
Later that evening, Alice stepped onto the terrace.
Ocean wind moved through her hair.
Nero followed.
Stefano came outside five minutes later.
“You’re supposed to rest.”
“So are you.”
“I’m not recovering from massive blood loss.”
“You’re recovering from ninety-three minutes of sleep.”
Alice looked at him.
“You remember that?”
“Danny told me.”
“Danny talks too much.”
Stefano stood beside her.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then he said, “Why are you broke?”
Alice laughed once.
“That transition was subtle.”
“I’m serious.”
“It isn’t interesting.”
“I decide what interests me.”
“See? That. That’s exactly why people probably find you exhausting.”
Stefano almost smiled.
Alice looked toward the water.
“My mother got sick.”
His expression changed.
Alice continued.
“She died two years ago. Insurance covered most treatment. Not everything. I used credit cards. Took loans. Reduced my hours near the end so I could care for her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t still owe money for caring for your mother.”
“That’s America.”
“I can pay it.”
Alice turned.
“No.”
“It would be nothing.”
“To you.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why the answer is no.”
His brow tightened.
“You’ll take my salary but not help.”
“Your salary pays me for work. That matters.”
“To you.”
“Yes.”
Stefano considered that.
“You don’t like owing people.”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
“That explains the empire?”
“Partly.”
For the first time, she heard something human beneath the reputation.
Before either could speak again, Danny ran onto the terrace.
“We found the security breach.”
Stefano turned.
“Who?”
Danny looked toward Carmine behind him.
Carmine’s face had gone gray.
“It came from my credentials.”
Silence.
Carmine held up his access card.
“Someone duplicated it.”
Stefano’s expression hardened.
“When?”
“We don’t know.”
Danny placed a laptop on the table.
“The duplicate card accessed the west wing thirty minutes before the explosion.”
Alice looked at Carmine.
He appeared genuinely devastated.
Stefano’s eyes turned cold.
“Who had access to your card?”
Carmine swallowed.
“My office staff.”
“Names.”
“Four people.”
“Anyone else?”
Carmine did not answer.
Stefano repeated it.
“Anyone else?”
Carmine looked at the floor.
Then whispered one name.
“Leonard.”
Alice’s stomach tightened.
Carmine continued.
“Voss borrowed my card three weeks ago. Said he left his medical bag in a restricted room.”
Danny cursed.
Stefano did not.
He simply stared at the man who had defended his doctor.
Carmine’s voice broke.
“I gave it to him.”
Alice saw guilt destroy something inside him.
Stefano approached.
Carmine expected anger.
Instead Stefano put one hand on his shoulder.
“He fooled me too.”
Carmine looked up.
That single sentence did more than accusation ever could.
Danny’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then immediately put it on speaker.
A distorted voice filled the terrace.
“Mr. Marquetti.”
Stefano’s face changed.
Voss.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Stefano looked at Alice.
“The notebook?”
Voss laughed quietly.
“No.”
A pause.
“I want Nurse Brennan.”
Alice stopped breathing.
Stefano’s entire body became still.
“You don’t get to want anything.”
“She has no idea what she walked into.”
“Then explain it.”
“I will.”
Voss’s voice lowered.
“When she comes alone.”
The call ended.
Danny immediately began tracing the number.
No result.
Alice looked at Stefano.
He spoke before she could.
“No.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking.”
“I usually do.”
“You’re not going.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“Good.”
Alice looked toward the black notebook.
Then back at Stefano.
“But he thinks I have something besides the photographs.”
Stefano’s expression changed.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
Alice opened the notebook again.
Turned the pages.
Then noticed the inside back cover.
A narrow slit.
She slid one finger beneath it.
Something small fell onto the table.
A microSD card.
Nobody spoke.
Alice stared at it.
Voss had not called because he feared the notebook.
He feared whatever was hidden inside it.
And they were about to find out why.