Dr Doe Novels & Stories

She took his hand and they stood by the fence and listened to their people behind them, warm and noisy and real. She slept deeply that night and woke at three in the morning to Colt's phone ringing on the nightstand beside her. He answered before she was fully awake. She heard two words in his voice that she had never heard before, not in any of it, not in the worst of it. The two words were: how bad. She sat up in the dark and looked at his face and felt the specific cold that came with knowing that whatever had started tonight was not going to be simple. He hung up. He sat on the edge of the bed and said: Doyle's lead attorney is dead. Found in his Denver apartment two hours ago. And Sloan

That's design. I pull the intermediary company's registration details, cross-referencing the listed directors against every name I've been collecting since this entire nightmare started. One name stops me cold. *D. Doyle. Director, non-executive.* The same Doyle who stumbled through vague answers in the boardroom two days ago. The same Doyle whose division authorized surveillance on my sister's apartment using Leo's borrowed credentials. I photograph the page, my hands steady despite the adrenaline building in my chest, and keep digging. **

The moment I opened the door barefoot, I realized how ridiculous I was being. "Patrick? It really is you—you're back?" Sonya Peters from the neighborhood committee beamed when she saw me and gave my shoulder a warm pat. "Yeah, Sonya, I'm back. What's going on?"

Chris replied, pulling me closer and giving me a kiss on the head. I smiled and hugged him briefly. "Thank you, Chris," I said sincerely. "Excuse me," we both turned our heads toward the source of the voice. "My name is Angela, and I'm a journalist from Scandal Motion magazine. Are you Minerva Finn and Christopher Samuels?" Chris and I exchanged surprised glances. This was even better than we could have hoped for. If we were in a magazine, no one could say it was all a lie. Both of us nodded at the woman standing in front of us. She wore a dark green dress and tall heels. She took a notepad and pen from her bag.