Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Shadows
"Look at him," Sarah whispered, her voice shaking as she watched Marcus weep on the news screen in her hospital room. "He’s a monster."
Detective Hayes entered the room, shutting the door firmly behind her. "Let him put on his show, Sarah. The longer he thinks he succeeded, the more mistakes he will make. We’ve checked you into this hospital under a pseudonym—Jane Doe. Only Dr. Rodriguez, Captain O’Brien, and myself know you are alive."
"How long can we keep this up?" Sarah asked, her hand resting protectively over her stomach. "My family... my father's friends... they think I'm dead. They are grieving."
"We need forty-eight hours," Hayes explained, sitting at the edge of the bed. "Our cyber forensics team is tracing Marcus’s financial accounts. We’ve already confirmed he transferred five million dollars to an offshore account in the Cayman Islands under the name Chloe Vance two days ago. We are building an airtight case, not just for attempted murder, but for corporate fraud."
Suddenly, the door handle jiggled.
Sarah froze. Detective Hayes instantly placed her hand on her service weapon, stepping in front of the bed.
The door opened slowly, revealing Captain Patrick O’Brien. He looked relieved but exhausted, holding a secure laptop.
"Detective, Mrs. Mitchell," O'Brien said, closing the door behind him. "We have a problem. Marcus just hired a private dive team to 'assist' the Coast Guard in recovering his wife's body. He’s paying them triple time to search a specific coordinate grid."
Sarah frowned. "Why would he want them to find me if he thinks I drowned?"
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"He doesn't want them to find you," Hayes realized, her eyes narrowing. "He wants his own team to find your body first so they can ensure any evidence—like the waterproof phone case or marks on your shoulders from where he shoved you—disappears before the state coroners can examine it."
Sarah gripped the bedsheets. "Then we have to hit him where it hurts before he destroys anything else. We have to let Chloe know that the ship is sinking."
