Chapter 3 - The Doctor Who Knew Too Much.
Dr. Pierce covered the phone with his hand as though he were checking Elena's ribs.
His face remained professionally calm.
His voice did not.
"Can you hear me?"
Elena gave the smallest possible movement of her fingers.
Yes.
Pierce leaned closer.
"Don't speak."
Vanessa watched him from the third stair.
"Is she conscious?"
Pierce ignored her.
He checked Elena's pupils, then placed one hand carefully against the protective padding beneath her cardigan.
His fingertips found its edge.
His eyes sharpened.
He knew Elena had prepared for the fall.
The question was how.
Nathan knelt opposite him.
"Is the baby okay?"
Pierce's voice softened.
"I need imaging and fetal monitoring before I promise anything."
Nathan closed his eyes for a moment.
Vanessa descended another step.
"She shouldn't have attacked me."
Pierce looked up.
"A pregnant woman attacked you at the edge of a staircase?"
The skepticism was unmistakable.
Vanessa's cheeks flushed.
"You weren't here."
"No."
Pierce glanced at the antique clock above the landing.
"Apparently I wasn't."
Elena noticed where he looked.
The hidden camera.
Her pulse quickened.
Only three people knew that camera existed.
Elena.
Detective Ruiz.
And the technician Ruiz had brought in after midnight two days earlier.
Dr. Pierce was not one of them.
The ambulance siren finally sounded beyond the front gates.
Nathan exhaled in relief.
Vanessa did not.
She stepped away from the staircase and reached into her purse.
Margaret noticed.
"Who are you calling?"
Vanessa quickly lowered the purse.
"My lawyer."
"Why would you need a lawyer if this was an accident?"
Vanessa stared at the older woman.
Margaret had asked the question gently.
That made it worse.
"Because Nathan will blame me no matter what happened."
Nathan rose halfway to his feet.
"My wife is on the floor and you're already thinking about blame?"
Vanessa's tears returned.
"I was trying to protect you."
"From what?"
"From her."
Elena listened as the words spilled faster.
Vanessa was losing control.
That was supposed to help the case.
Instead, Elena found herself watching Dr. Pierce.
He had moved one hand beneath his medical bag.
A tiny metal object appeared between his fingers.
It looked like a key.
He slipped it beneath Elena's palm.
Then he whispered without moving his lips.
"Your bedroom safe."
Elena's confusion must have shown.
Pierce leaned closer.
"Someone opened it last night."
Cold spread through her faster than the pain.
The safe contained copies of every piece of evidence Elena had gathered before contacting Ruiz.
It also contained a sealed letter from Nathan's late father.
A letter that changed the ownership of the Howard estate.
Elena had never told Vanessa it existed.
She had barely told Nathan.
Paramedics entered with a stretcher.
Pierce stepped aside.
As they prepared Elena for transport, Vanessa moved closer to Nathan.
"I can come to the hospital."
Nathan turned toward her.
"No."
The word stopped everyone.
Vanessa's face hardened.
Then the mansion lights went out.
The foyer plunged into darkness.
A second later, glass shattered upstairs.
And somebody ran toward Elena's bedroom.
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THE REVERSED PLAN
