Chapter 10: Someone Was Watching

Maya couldn't take her eyes off the photograph.

It showed her asleep in the hospital bed, her face turned slightly toward the window. The white blanket covered her to the waist, and the IV line was visible against her arm. Even the chair beside Danny's bed appeared in the frame.

The photograph had been taken from inside the room.

That was the part she couldn't stop thinking about.

She remembered that afternoon with uncomfortable clarity. Danny had been sleeping while rain tapped against the hospital window. Maya had sat beside him for nearly an hour, exhausted and distracted by everything that had happened—the money for his surgery, her father's disappearance, Julian's marriage proposal, and the strange brass key that had somehow brought her here.

She hadn't noticed anyone enter.

Now she knew someone had been there.

Her thumb moved along the photograph's edge.

“When was this taken?”

Julian didn't answer immediately.

His attention had shifted from the photograph to the hidden room. He examined the walls, ceiling, doorway, and the narrow spaces between the furniture as if he expected to find another camera.

“Julian.”

“Today.”

“I know it was taken today.” Maya looked up. “I want to know when.”

He took the photograph from her and studied it.

“Judging by your clothes and the light through the window, sometime this afternoon.”

Maya's stomach tightened.

That had been before she'd left the hospital.

Before she knew someone was watching her.

“Someone was inside my room.”

“Yes.”

The certainty in his voice made her look at him.

“You're sure?”

“The angle is wrong for someone standing in the corridor. Whoever took it was inside the room.”

Maya swallowed.

“How did I not see them?”

“You were watching Danny.”

She hated that he was right.

Her brother had been lying pale beneath the hospital sheets, and Maya had been terrified that something would go wrong before his surgery. She'd been watching the monitor, checking his breathing, worrying about money. If someone had entered while she was focused on Danny, she might never have noticed.

Julian handed the photograph back.

“Did you notice anyone unusual at the hospital?”

Maya thought about it.

“There was a man.”

Julian's attention sharpened.

“What man?”

“I saw him outside the room earlier today.”

“What did he look like?”

“A dark jacket. A cap pulled low. I couldn't see his face.”

“Did he speak to you?”

“No.”

“Did he approach your room?”

“I don't think so.”

Julian waited.

Maya frowned as she searched her memory.

“He was carrying something. I thought it was a folder.”

“Could it have been a camera?”

“I don't know.”

“Did he look at you?”

“Yes.”

Julian's expression hardened.

Maya glanced at the photograph.

“Why would he take a picture of me?”

“To confirm he found you.”

“To whom?”

“I don't know.”

She hated how often those words had become part of their conversations.

Maya looked at the second photograph lying on the table.

“Could he be the person who left this here?”

“Possibly.”

“The person who gave me the key?”

“Possibly.”

Maya's eyes narrowed.

“So someone has been leading me from one place to another.”

“Or several people are following the same trail.”

She studied him.

“And which one do you believe?”

“I don't know yet.”

There was no evasion in his voice this time. He genuinely didn't have the answer.

Maya wasn't sure whether that made her feel better.

“You knew there was a threat against my family before you asked me to marry you.”

Julian met her gaze.

“I knew there was a threat.”

“You didn't tell me.”

“You wouldn't have believed me.”

“You could have tried.”

“I did.”

Maya frowned.

“When?”

“The night I offered you the marriage.”

She remembered that night.

The hospital bill.

His impossible offer.

The conditions.

The insistence that their marriage remain private.

At the time, she'd thought his secrecy was about business.

Now she wasn't so sure.

“You knew the threat was connected to my father.”

“I suspected it was.”

“And my mother?”

“I didn't know about her.”

Maya watched his face carefully.

This time, she couldn't find a lie.

“You're telling me the truth?”

“As far as I know it.”

She lowered her eyes.

The photograph of her mother was still inside her bag.

She could feel its weight against the fabric.

Her mother was supposed to be dead.

Her father had disappeared.

And now both things she'd believed about her family were beginning to look uncertain.

“What did my father want from you?”

Julian's jaw tightened.

“Protection.”

“For my mother.”

“Yes.”

“Did he tell you she was alive?”

“No.”

Maya frowned. “Then why did he ask you to protect her?”

“I don't know what he believed at the time.”

“You never found out?”

“I tried.”

“And then?”

“He disappeared.”

Maya looked away.

Three years.

Three years since her father had vanished.

Three years since she'd learned to live with unanswered questions.

Now those questions were beginning to follow her.

“You've been investigating his disappearance all this time.”

Julian didn't deny it.

“Why?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Because your father's disappearance was connected to something that happened inside my family.”

Maya looked sharply at him.

“What happened?”

“Not here.”

She glanced around the hidden room.

“You think someone can hear us?”

“I think someone already knows we're here.”

A knot formed in Maya's stomach.

Julian turned toward the security man waiting outside.

“Check the corridor. Then contact the hospital. I want every security record from today preserved.”

The man nodded and left.

Maya watched him disappear through the doorway.

“You really think we're being watched right now?”

Julian looked at her.

“I know someone has been watching you.”

Maya's fingers tightened around the photograph.

Julian picked up the picture of her mother.

“We need to leave.”

Maya reached for it.

“I want this.”

He handed it over.

She slipped it carefully into her bag.

Then she noticed writing on the back of the second photograph.

“Wait.”

She turned it over.

Three words were written across the back.

Ask your father.

Maya's breath caught.

“Julian.”

He looked at the message.

Something changed in his expression.

Not surprise.

Recognition.

“You know this handwriting.”

Julian reached inside his jacket and pulled out a folded document.

Maya recognized it immediately.

The Emerson Trust document.

He opened it beside the photograph.

The handwriting matched.

Her father's handwriting.

Maya stared at the two pieces of paper.

“My father wrote this.”

“Yes.”

“But the photograph was taken today.”

“I know.”

“The handwriting looks old.”

“It is.”

Maya looked at him.

“Then how did it get there?”

Julian turned the photograph over and examined the back.

“The message wasn't written today.”

“I know that.”

“It was written before the photograph was taken.”

Maya frowned.

“That doesn't make sense.”

Julian pointed to the back of the photograph.

“The message is on the backing paper, not on the photograph itself. Someone prepared it beforehand and attached it later.”

Maya stared at the words.

Ask your father.

“But why?”

“To make sure you found it.”

Her mouth went dry.

“They knew I'd come here.”

Julian didn't answer.

He didn't have to.

A sound came from the corridor.

Footsteps.

Both of them turned.

Three slow knocks sounded against the door.

The security man appeared.

“Mr. Voss.”

“What did you find?”

“The hospital cameras.”

Julian walked toward him.

Maya followed.

“The footage from the corridor is missing,” the guard said. “Someone accessed the hospital security system and deleted several hours.”

Maya's heart jumped.

“Can it be recovered?”

“We're trying.”

The guard hesitated.

“But one camera wasn't connected to the main recording system.”

Julian's eyes narrowed.

“What camera?”

“A motion-triggered camera near the end of the corridor. It saves individual still images separately.”

“Show me.”

The guard held out his phone.

“There was one image from this afternoon.”

Maya stepped closer.

The photograph on the phone was grainy, but the hospital corridor was unmistakable.

Her room was visible at the far end.

And there was the man she'd seen earlier.

Dark jacket.

Cap pulled low.

His face was turned away from the camera.

Maya leaned closer.

Then she noticed what he was holding.

Her breath caught.

A brass key.

Julian took the phone.

“Can you enlarge it?”

The guard zoomed in.

The engraving became visible.

Maya stared at the screen.

3-18.

Her hand went automatically to her pocket.

She pulled out her own key.

The brass caught the light.

3-17.

One number separated them.

Julian looked from her key to the image on the phone.

Maya's thoughts raced.

“The person watching me had another key.”

“It looks that way.”

“If 3-17 led me to my father's storage unit…”

Julian's expression changed.

“Then 3-18 could lead somewhere else.”

Maya looked at the two numbers.

“And whoever gave me 3-17 knew that.”

“Maybe.”

She looked at him.

“You don't sound surprised.”

“I'm not surprised that the key has a connection. I'm surprised that someone else has the next number.”

Maya closed her fingers around her key.

The realization settled heavily in her chest.

The key hadn't been the answer.

It had been the beginning.

And somewhere, someone was already waiting for her to find the next door.