Chapter 6 - The Witness Who Refused to Die
Daniel Voss was alive.
Barely.
Paramedics carried him from the basement while officers searched the surrounding woods. His wrists were cut from restraints, and dehydration had left his skin pale and cracked.
Piper rode with him to the hospital.
Adrian sat opposite her in the ambulance, monitoring Daniel’s pressure.
“Do you know how long he was there?” Piper asked.
“No.”
“Could he have been moved in last night?”
“Possible.”
Daniel’s eyes fluttered.
Piper leaned closer.
“Daniel?”
His lips moved beneath the oxygen mask.
“What?”
She lowered her ear.
“Not… dead.”
“I know.”
His fingers closed weakly around her wrist.
“Vane…”
“Malcolm?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Two.”
Piper looked at Adrian.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel’s eyes rolled back.
The monitor alarm sounded.
His heart rate dropped.
Adrian reached for medication while Piper adjusted the airway.
“Daniel, stay with us.”
His pulse disappeared.
Piper began compressions.
For the second time in less than twelve hours, she fought to bring someone back from death.
But this time the patient carried answers that had already cost lives.
They restored his heartbeat before reaching the hospital.
Daniel was taken to intensive care under police guard.
Piper remained outside the unit, staring through the glass.
Six months earlier, she had believed he was dead because he tried to help her.
Now she did not know whether his survival was good news or part of a trap.
Renata joined her.
“The basement contained supplies for at least two weeks.”
“So he was held there before the reunion.”
“Yes.”
“My mother claims she knew nothing.”
“Do you believe her?”
“No.”
“Do you think she abducted him?”
“No.”
Renata studied her.
“You answered quickly.”
“My mother is capable of denial, manipulation, cruelty, and astonishing selfishness. She is not capable of managing a covert prisoner.”
“That may be the nicest thing you’ve said about her.”
“It wasn’t.”
Renata handed Piper a transparent evidence bag.
Inside was a small metal key found beneath Daniel’s chair.
A number had been engraved on it.
314.
“Recognize it?” Renata asked.
“No.”
“Hospital locker?”
“Could be.”
“Hotel room?”
“Could be.”
“Safe-deposit box?”
“Also possible.”
“We’re checking.”
Piper looked toward Daniel.
“He said ‘Vane’ and ‘two.’”
“Two Vanes?”
“Malcolm and Mara.”
“Or a second project.”
“Or a second victim.”
Renata nodded.
“That is why you’re staying inside the hospital.”
Piper gave her a flat look.
“I work here.”
“You know what I mean.”
Before Piper could respond, Marcus approached from the elevators.
His face was drawn with exhaustion.
“Mom’s asking for you.”
“I’m busy.”
“She says it’s about Dad.”
Piper looked at Renata.
Renata nodded.
“Interview room three.”
Evelyn sat alone at a metal table.
The police had not arrested her, but the setting made the distinction feel temporary.
Piper entered and closed the door.
Evelyn lifted her head.
“You look tired.”
Piper remained standing.
“What do you know about Dad?”
Evelyn’s lips trembled.
“I loved him.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“I need you to understand that.”
“No. You need me to forgive what you haven’t admitted yet.”
Evelyn looked down at her hands.
“After the drowning, your father changed.”
“How?”
“He had nightmares. Memory gaps. Sometimes he woke up speaking words I didn’t understand. Medical terms. Names.”
“Vane?”
“Yes.”
“Project Lazarus?”
Evelyn nodded.
“He became obsessed with finding out what they had done to him. He collected records. He contacted former patients.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he find anyone?”
“A woman in Ohio. A firefighter in Michigan. A child in Illinois.”
Piper sat down.
“What happened to them?”
“The woman died of a stroke. The firefighter disappeared. The child…”
Evelyn stopped.
“The child what?”
“She survived.”
“Who was she?”
“I never knew her name.”
“Why?”
“Thomas refused to tell me. He said the less I knew, the safer we were.”
Piper felt anger rising.
“You signed the original papers.”
“I was twenty-nine years old. My husband had been underwater for twenty-three minutes. A doctor told me he could bring him back.”
“And you believed him.”
“He did bring him back.”
“At what cost?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Years later, Thomas discovered the project had continued without consent. They were using emergency patients. People who arrived without family. Children from state care. Accident victims.”
Piper thought of Isabel.
“Did Dad contact the authorities?”
“He tried.”
“What happened?”
“The construction accident.”
Piper’s chest tightened.
“You think they killed him.”
“I know they did.”
“Evidence?”
“Thomas called me the morning he died. He said he had proof. He told me to take the children and leave.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I thought he was paranoid.”
Piper’s voice became hard.
“You always think the person telling the truth is unstable.”
Evelyn flinched.
“After he died, Malcolm Vane came to the funeral.”
Piper remembered a tall man near the back of the church.
She had seen the serpent ring when he shook Evelyn’s hand.
“He offered you money,” Piper said.
“Yes.”
“For silence?”
“For the company. For Marcus’s education. For our debts.”
“And you took it.”
“I had three children.”
“You had three excuses.”
Evelyn struck the table with her palm.
“You think being brilliant makes you innocent? You left. You abandoned us.”
“I was nineteen.”
“You could have helped.”
“You told me Dad would be ashamed of me for going to medical school.”
“I was angry.”
“You told the whole family I was a dropout.”
“I thought you would fail.”
“So you decided my failure before I had the chance to succeed.”
Evelyn’s face crumpled.
Piper stood.
“We’re done.”
“Wait.”
Evelyn reached into her coat and removed a folded piece of paper.
“I found this in Thomas’s jacket after he died.”
She slid it across the table.
It was a hand-drawn map of St. Catherine’s Medical Center.
A circle marked an underground section beneath the old surgical wing.
Next to it Thomas had written:
Lazarus Archive.
Below that:
Piper must never become their doctor.
Piper stared at the words.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You kept this for eight years?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Evelyn looked at her daughter.
“Of the day they realized you were just like him.”
The interview-room door opened.
Adrian stood outside.
“Piper, Daniel is awake.”
She left Evelyn without another word.
In the intensive care room, Daniel lay beneath monitors and tubing. Renata stood beside the bed.
Piper approached.
Daniel’s eyes opened.
He focused on her slowly.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For disappearing?”
“For bringing them to you.”
“Who?”
Daniel glanced at the guard outside.
“The Lazarus patients.”
Piper leaned closer.
“How many are there?”
His face tightened with fear.
“More than they told us.”
“Who is running the project?”
“Malcolm started it.”
“And now?”
Daniel looked toward the dark window.
“Mara thinks she can finish it.”
Piper swallowed.
“Finish what?”
Daniel’s fingers trembled.
May you like
“Death.”
Then every monitor in the room went black.
