The Man Who Arranged the Funeral
Chapter 03 - The Man Who Arranged the Funeral
Police searched for Adrian while Sophie remained under close observation. By sunrise, her breathing had strengthened, but she had not yet awakened. Ethan sat beside her bed with Atlas curled beneath the chair, replaying every decision that had brought them there.
Adrian had handled the accident paperwork. Adrian had recommended the private clinic. Adrian had insisted that Sophie’s casket remain closed because her injuries were “too severe.” He had even arranged the funeral before Ethan had been allowed to see the official medical report.
Detective Lena Brooks arrived with worse news. The physician who signed Sophie’s death certificate, Dr. Calvin Voss, had disappeared. His clinic’s security system had been wiped, and a nurse admitted that Adrian had visited the back entrance shortly before Sophie was declared dead.
Jonah, the funeral director, then requested to speak privately. He confessed that when Sophie arrived at the funeral home, her skin had felt unusually warm. He had questioned the paperwork, but Adrian threatened to destroy his business and accuse him of mishandling the body. Frightened, Jonah stayed silent. Still, he secretly loosened the casket seal and delayed the burial schedule, hoping someone would notice.
“I should have called the police,” Jonah said, his eyes wet with shame. “That dog had more courage than I did.”
Ethan wanted to blame him, but a faint voice came from the hospital room.
“Dad?”
Sophie was awake.
She remembered little about the crash, only that Uncle Adrian had picked her up after dance practice. He gave her a sweet-tasting drink and said it would help with carsickness. Later, she woke briefly in a dark room and heard Adrian arguing with another man.
“She can’t wake up before the funeral,” Adrian had said.
The statement gave detectives probable cause to search Adrian’s waterfront office. Inside a locked drawer, they found forged medical forms, an offshore loan agreement, and a contract offering him millions if he gained voting control of Sophie’s inherited shares.
But the most alarming discovery was a live feed from a hidden hospital camera.
Adrian had been watching Sophie’s room.
Detective Brooks called hospital security, but the lights suddenly flickered. Atlas leaped to his feet and barked toward the service hallway. An empty wheelchair rolled out of the darkness.
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Behind it stood a man in medical scrubs, his face hidden by a mask.
In his hand was a syringe.
