Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Ethan pulled Claire to the floor.
Another shot hit the wall.
Dr. Reed collapsed behind his desk.
“Stay down!”
Ethan crawled toward him.
Claire called 911.
Security alarms began screaming.
By the time police reached the office, the shooter was gone.
Reed was alive.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Paramedics rushed him toward surgery.
But before they moved him, he grabbed Claire’s sleeve.
“Your father.”
Claire leaned close.
“What?”
“Your father kept copies.”
“Copies of what?”
Reed coughed.
“The board.”
His eyes moved toward Ethan.
“The board knew.”
Then he lost consciousness.
Claire stared at Ethan.
“The board of Whitmore Holdings?”
Ethan looked shaken.
“My father was fighting them before he died.”
“About what?”
“He wanted to break up part of the company.”
“Why?”
Ethan ran a hand through his hair.
“There were allegations.”
“What kind?”
“Illegal medical trials.”
Claire remembered Anna’s journal.
Medical records.
Medication.
Missing documents.
“Your father discovered something.”
Ethan nodded.
“And someone killed him before he could expose it.”
The detective arrived with another piece of news.
The bullet recovered from Reed’s office matched ammunition used in a private Whitmore security division.
Claire stared at Ethan.
“Who controls security?”
Ethan’s answer came slowly.
“Eleanor.”
The detective shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
He showed them a corporate filing.
“Control was transferred six months ago.”
“To who?”
“Vanessa Whitmore.”
Claire remembered the note at the cottage.
DO NOT TRUST VANESSA.
Ethan immediately called his stepsister.
No answer.
Then the detective’s phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
Claire asked.
He lowered the phone.
“Vanessa’s car was found abandoned near the river.”
Claire’s heart sank.
“Was she inside?”
May you like
“No.”
“But there was blood on the driver’s seat.”
