Free Web NovelChapter 36: A guilty man can’t let a witness wake up
Alexander swiped his card against the internal console and the elevator door opened. He got in with April, Samuel, and one of the guards then pressed the button for the penthouse floor.
The service elevator clicked as it started moving up.
"You said we’re letting him expose himself," Alexander said, looking at April as the elevator climbed. "But how? Dr. Evans is careful. If he’s poisoning my grandfather, he’s not going to just leave the vial sitting on the table."
"He doesn’t need to," April replied smoothly, watching the floor numbers change. "A bad doctor who hasn’t been caught for months gets cocky. When a patient suddenly looks like they’re about to wake up, a guilty doctor will panic. They’ll try to rush in and finish the job before the patient can speak."
She turned her head to look at him with a smirk. "We aren’t going to search the room for the poison, Alexander. That’s a dumb move." she said and he furrowed his brows. "Instead, we are going to make him think your grandfather is waking up. Does the old man have a backup heart monitor or something synced to the main building?"
Alexander blinked, catching on. "Yes. There’s a data box in the closet next to his room. It sends the raw vitals directly to our family company’s main computer so the board can watch his status."
"Perfect," April said and then turned her head. "Samuel."
Samuel stepped forward instantly, holding his tablet. "Yes, Miss April?"
"You excel in computer engineering as well, right?" Samuel nodded. "Can you hack a data box and fake vitals?"
Samuel’s fingers tapped his screen quickly. "If I plug into the wall panel on this floor, yes. I can alter the signal to show a sudden spike in brain activity and stabilise blood pressure. It will look exactly like he is waking up from his coma."
"Then do it," April said as the elevator dinged, showing they had reached the top floor. "Make it look like the old man is about to open his eyes. The doctor will get an emergency alert on his phone. A guilty man can’t let a witness wake up."
The elevator doors slid open to a quiet, super-luxurious hallway with thick carpets. At the end of the hall were the glass doors to Alexander’s grandfather’s private suite.
"The panel is right here," Samuel whispered, stepping toward a hidden wall door. He took out a wire he happened to be carrying in his jacket and plugged it from his tablet into the panel. "Give me one minute, Miss April."
Alexander watched Samuel, his hands sweating a bit. He was anxious. Would this work? He turned to April, keeping his voice low. "And what do we do while the doctor panics?"
"We hide and watch," April whispered back, pointing toward a decorative seating area near the door that had a clear view through the glass panels. "The second he tries to inject something to silence your grandfather for good, you trap him. That’s your absolute proof."
Alexander nodded. That sounded reasonable. If he saw the Doctor in a panic, that clearly meant something was wrong and April had been right about the poison.
He stared at Samuel’s flying fingers on the tablet, then slowly turned his gaze back to April. He studied her calm face for a long moment, his brow furrowing as a sudden thought struck him.
Even if she was a seer as she claimed to be, he doubted that her ability came with a full book manual on how to tackle all situations she gets herself involved in. It made him curious. Very curious.
"How do you know all this?" he asked, keeping his voice down but his blue eyes were intense. "Have you done this before? Like... are you a professional corporate fixer or something?"
"No," April answered without a single moment of hesitation. She didn’t even blink. "But you see, when there’s a problem in front of me, solutions just start flooding my head. So let’s say I’m just naturally gifted."
She let out a short, hollow chuckle. It wasn’t a happy sound at all; it was a pure, bitter mockery of herself.
As she stood in the quiet luxury hallway, her mind instantly flashed back to the dark, brutal ruins of her past. If she had been such a quick thinker back then, if solutions had just rushed into her head during the grueling chaos of the apocalypse, she wouldn’t have gotten into so many messes. She wouldn’t have lost absolutely everything.
The ruthless people who outsmarted her, used her, discarded her over and over, throwing her away like trash and then finally as food for the zombies wouldn’t have been able to touch her.
Back then, she had been a fool. Stupid, weak, and way too trusting even when that trust put her in tight situations over and over.
A little kindness was enough to buy her over.
Thinking about it now, she wanted to laugh even more. Her life... calling it tragic didn’t even come close to it.
April gripped her folded arms a bit tighter against her chest, the fabric of her blazer pressing into her skin. She hated that version of herself but... she liked this new version of herself.
Her jaw tightened with a cold, inner certainty. This new her wasn’t as weak as she was back then. Fate was in her hands now, and she was never letting it go. frёewebηovel.cѳm
Alexander watched the sudden, icy shift in her expression, feeling that strange chill creep up his spine again.
He didn’t know what she was thinking about, but he could tell it was something dark enough to make his own family drama look like a playground fight. He wisely chose not to push her for more answers.
"By the way, that’s a million," she said to him and he tilted his head.
"What?" She turned her head to him, a corporate smile plastered on her lips.
"Whenever I answer a question that doesn’t have to do with the job, I’ll charge you a million for it. So, add that to your tab." She said and he scowled.
This money-grubber...
Just then, a sound echoed from Samuel’s tab. It was a soft click.
"Done, Miss April," Samuel whispered smoothly, pulling the wire from the wall panel. "The mainframe now registers a massive surge in the Chairman’s vitals. To anyone monitoring the network, it looks like he is fully regaining consciousness."
April’s sharp, predatory smirk snapped right back into place. All the dark thoughts of the apocalypse vanished, replaced by the sheer thrill of the hunt.
"Excellent, Samuel," April purred, gesturing toward the shadowed corner near the frosted glass doors, away from the eyes of a panicking personnel. "The trap is set. Let’s go watch a snake squirm."
