Chapter 5 - The Diverted Route
The screen of Mark’s smartphone glowed brightly in the dim living room. A push notification from his banking app flashed across the top, followed by a live GPS tracking link sent from an unknown number. He tapped the link with a trembling thumb, watching as a red dot representing the ambulance moved rapidly across the digital map—not heading north toward St. Jude’s General Hospital, but turning sharply east, toward an abandoned industrial park on the outskirts of town.
"What did you do?" Mark whispered, his voice dead and hollow as he looked up from the screen at Julian and Elena.
Elena smiled, a cold, empty expression that didn't reach her eyes. "We didn't do anything, Mark. We just made sure she went where she belongs. You really thought she was innocent, didn't you? You never bothered to check her past before you married her."
Officer Vance stepped between them, sensing the sudden drop in temperature in the room. "Mr. Hayes, put the phone down. What is on that screen?"
"The ambulance... they're taking my wife to the wrong place," Mark said, his voice cracking as the reality of the trap closed in around him. "They aren't going to the hospital."
Julian adjusted his trench coat cuffs with agonizing slowness. "My associates are medical transport contractors, Officer. They have the proper state licensing. And given Mrs. Hayes's documented history of severe psychological instability, her transfer to a secure rehabilitation facility was authorized by a judge this morning."
"That's a complete fabrication!" Mark roared, taking a step toward Julian. "There was no judge! You forged those papers!"
"Prove it," Julian replied smoothly.
Officer Vance looked back and forth between them, his radio crackling with static as dispatch attempted to update him on the ambulance's telemetry. "Sir, if there's an authorized transfer—"
"There isn't!" Mark screamed, shoving past Julian and running toward the front door.
He wrenched the door open and sprinted out onto the porch. The cool evening air hit his face, but the driveway was completely empty. The ambulance was gone, swallowed by the thick fog rolling in off the nearby river. He checked his phone again; the red dot had stopped moving, blinking stubbornly in the middle of a defunct shipping warehouse district known as Pier 42.
Elena stepped out onto the porch behind him, her maroon turtleneck dark against the pale fog. She leaned against the railing, watching Mark with an unsettling sense of amusement.
May you like
"You can run after her all you want, Mark," Elena whispered into the damp night air. "But when you get there, you'll find out why she was so desperate to keep you from looking in the attic."
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