Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY FREEZER
Hannah reached Rosewood before Dominic’s second vehicle had fully stopped.
She ran through the kitchen.
The locked freezer stood open.
Warm air spilled from inside.
Empty.
“No.”
For six months she had worked ten feet from the evidence.
Now it was gone.
Frank appeared in the doorway.
“Looking for those silver boxes?”
Hannah spun around.
“What silver boxes?”
“The ones Keller wheeled out.”
“When?”
“About twenty minutes ago.”
Dominic arrived.
“Where did he take them?”
Frank pointed toward the service hall.
“Laundry.”
They followed.
The laundry room was empty.
But Hannah noticed wet wheel tracks.
They led toward the charity ballroom.
Inside, sixty-seven residents were still gathered together.
Silver insulated cases sat beneath the auction tables.
Keller had hidden them in plain sight.
Dominic approached the nearest case.
Hannah stopped him.
“Photograph everything first.”
He looked at her.
Then smiled faintly.
“Yes, Chef.”
For the first time that night, she felt like herself.
Security documented the cases.
Inside were current trial logs, resident medication histories, staff screening records, and recorded adverse events.
Enough to connect the old research directly to Rosewood.
But Keller wasn’t there.
Vanessa examined the paperwork.
“He left these?”
“No,” Hannah said.
“He hid them.”
“Why not destroy them?”
“Because he still needs them.”
Dr. Price agreed.
“Research like this has value only if the data survives.”
Keller wanted the records.
Santoro wanted the records.
Neither could simply burn twenty-one years of work.
That made the cases bait.
Dominic ordered the ballroom secured.
Then Mrs. Patterson raised her hand.
Everyone turned.
“I saw Dr. Keller.”
“When?” Hannah asked.
“Five minutes ago.”
“Where?”
Mrs. Patterson pointed toward the kitchen.
“He was wearing Hannah’s coat.”
Hannah’s white chef coat.
Her embroidered name was visible from a distance.
Keller had spent months building records that associated Hannah with sample handling.
Now he was making sure cameras showed “Hannah” moving through restricted areas.
“He’s framing me again.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Worse.”
She opened one trial log.
Final custodian:
HANNAH BROOKS.
If Keller disappeared, Hannah would appear responsible for the archive.
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“We find him now.”
Hannah studied the kitchen.
Keller knew cameras.
He knew access systems.
He knew they would chase him.
So what did he actually want?
Then she saw the recipe binder.
Open.
She had left it closed.
Teresa’s list of sixteen suspicious resident accounts had been removed.
In its place sat a single object.
Hannah’s employee badge.
Cut in half.
“He knows we found the archive,” she said.
“And?” Dominic asked.
“He’s done pretending I’m useful.”
A scream came from the dining hall.
They ran.
Teresa was on the floor.
Hannah dropped beside her.
“Teresa?”
Her pulse was fast.
Her hands trembled violently.
On the table sat an empty paper medication cup.
Blue residue clung to the bottom.
Dominic’s face changed.
“Who gave her that?”
Teresa struggled to speak.
“Keller.”
Hannah looked around.
“Where?”
“He said… it was my heart medicine.”
An independent physician was already in the building. Hannah called him immediately.
As Teresa was treated, Dominic knelt beside his mother.
“Stay with me.”
Teresa managed a weak smile.
“You always were bossy.”
“You taught me.”
“Unfortunately.”
Hannah held Teresa’s hand.
The woman looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Save your strength.”
“No. I kept waiting for a better time to tell you.”
Her fingers tightened.
“There is no better time for truth.”
Hannah swallowed.
“We’ll talk when you’re stable.”
That was not forgiveness.
But it was a promise that Teresa would get the chance to earn it.
The doctor determined Teresa had likely received a concentrated dose of the experimental compound, but she was conscious and stable.
Keller had not tried to kill her.
He had tried to trigger an obvious adverse reaction.
“Why?” Vanessa asked.
Price understood.
“To contaminate the evidence.”
If Teresa became severely ill after Dominic seized the medication, Keller could claim improper handling caused the reaction.
Then Walter spoke.
“He wanted everyone looking at Teresa.”
Hannah turned.
Walter pointed toward the auction tables.
One silver case was missing.
Keller had taken the master log.
Dominic’s security cameras showed a figure in Hannah’s chef coat pushing the case toward the service exit.
Hannah watched the footage.
Something was wrong.
“He’s limping.”
Keller didn’t limp.
Eric did.
Everyone turned toward the room.
Eric was gone.
Vanessa went pale.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You trusted him.”
“I still do.”
The footage showed “Hannah” entering a service elevator.
Vanessa stepped closer to the screen.
“Zoom in.”
The image sharpened.
A hand pushed the cart.
On its wrist was Vanessa’s emerald bracelet.
The bracelet Hannah had returned to her.
Except Vanessa’s wrist was bare.
She whispered, “Eric took it.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
Vanessa looked devastated.
“I don’t know.”
Then Hannah remembered Eric’s words.
I can take you to Vanessa.
He had appeared exactly when they needed him.
He had carried the ledger in his coat.
He had controlled what they discovered and when.
Maybe he had never been Santoro’s man.
Maybe he had never been Keller’s either.
Price stared at the footage.
“That bracelet.”
“What about it?” Hannah asked.
Price moved closer.
“Carlo gave Vanessa two?”
Vanessa nodded.
“One to me.”
Price looked toward Teresa.
“And the other?”
Teresa’s face went pale.
“Dominic had one made for his fiancée.”
Dominic froze.
He had been engaged once.
Seventeen years ago.
Her name was Rachel Sloan.
Eric’s older sister.
She had died after a sudden illness at twenty-six.
Dominic slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“Eric didn’t come to Rosewood for you.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“No.”
Dominic understood.
“He came because of Rachel.”
Dr. Price opened the ledger and searched the earliest staff pages.
There it was.
RACHEL SLOAN — ADVERSE RESPONSE.
And beneath her name:
UNREPORTED.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Eric had spent years believing the Romano family covered up his sister’s death.
Hannah looked at the elevator footage.
“He’s not stealing the evidence for Keller.”
Dominic nodded grimly.
“He’s taking it to the man he thinks will finally punish us.”
Hannah already knew who.
Michael Santoro.
Then Dominic’s security chief rushed in.
“We found Sloan’s car.”
“Where?”
“At Lakeshore.”
“The empty clinic?”
“Yes.”
May you like
He hesitated.
“And Michael Santoro is there.”
