Chapter 3 - The Empty House
Police found Holloway’s car near the East River the following morning.
The driver’s door was unlocked.
His wallet remained in the center console.
There was no blood, no sign of struggle, and no body.
Arthur learned of the disappearance from Detective Elena Cruz, a homicide investigator whose family had once lived in one of Arthur’s low-income housing developments.
She met him privately in a conference room at police headquarters.
Cruz was forty-one, composed, and unimpressed by wealth.
“Your name was in his recent calls,” she said.
“He visited my office yesterday.”
“Why?”
Arthur considered lying.
Instead, he handed her a copy of the laboratory report.
Cruz read it slowly.
“Does your wife know you tested the pill?”
“No.”
“Does anyone?”
“My attorney.”
“And Dr. Holloway.”
Cruz placed the report on the table.
“You understand what this suggests.”
“I understand what it proves.”
“It proves someone gave you a dangerous drug. It does not prove your wife knew what it was.”
“She asked Holloway whether I swallowed it.”
Cruz looked up.
“You saw that message?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have the phone?”
“No. Holloway took it.”
“Convenient.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
Cruz continued.
“We searched his apartment. His passport is gone. So are several thousand dollars in cash.”
“He ran.”
“Possibly.”
“Or he was made to look like he ran.”
“Also possible.”
Arthur studied her.
“You don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone with eighty-two million dollars and a private security department.”
“My security department didn’t make Holloway disappear.”
“Did your wife?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Cruz pushed the report back toward him.
“Then stay alive long enough to find out.”
When Arthur returned to the penthouse, Vanessa was waiting in the living room.
She wore a cream sweater and held a cup of tea.
“Where were you?”
“At the office.”
“The police called.”
Arthur removed his coat.
“Why?”
“Dr. Holloway is missing.”
She watched his face carefully.
Arthur gave her nothing.
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate?”
“What should I call it?”
“He was your doctor.”
“He was also a gambler and a liar.”
Vanessa set down her cup.
“You knew?”
“I know many things.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Arthur walked toward the staircase.
“Arthur.”
He stopped.
“Did you see him yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to discuss my medication.”
The room became very still.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Was there a problem?”
Arthur turned.
For one dangerous second, neither of them pretended.
Then he smiled.
“I was becoming tired of your constant reminders.”
She relaxed slightly.
“You need those pills.”
“So you keep telling me.”
Arthur climbed the stairs.
In the bedroom, he locked the door and opened the hidden compartment behind a painting.
Inside were copies of the laboratory report, insurance documents, recordings, and a small black notebook.
He wrote the date.
Below it, he added one sentence.
Holloway missing after Vanessa asked whether I swallowed the blue tablet.
Arthur closed the notebook.
A floorboard creaked outside the bedroom.
He switched off the compartment light.
The door handle moved.
“Arthur?” Vanessa called.
He replaced the painting and opened the door.
She stood in the hallway holding his pill case.
“You forgot these.”
He took it from her.
That night, Arthur pretended to swallow every tablet.
After Vanessa fell asleep, he placed them into evidence bags and hid them inside an old safe in the basement wine cellar.
At three in the morning, motion sensors alerted him that someone had entered the cellar.
Arthur opened the security feed on his phone.
The video showed Vanessa walking between the wine racks.
She stopped in front of the old safe.
May you like
Then she turned directly toward the hidden camera.
And smiled.
