Chapter 21
ALEX
Alex’s fingers hammered against the keyboard as he wiped any traces of Ava’s presence in Miranda’s hotel room from the server. No one would know she was there now. And no one would suspect her of the murder.
Sebastian hovered over his shoulder, staring at the screen. “Is there anyone else that went into that room? We need another suspect.”
Alex shook his head, his muscles tensing every time he had to deal with the man. “I’m not sure. I’m a little busy right now.”
“I get that, but we need to know who else has been in there.”
Alex pounded his fist against the desk. “Well, was anyone in there when you went in?”
“Not that I saw, but I was only there for a minute. I spotted Miranda’s body and left to find Ava. Someone could have been in that suite, and I never would have known it.”
“The real murderer,” Alex murmured.
“Exactly,” Sebastian said with a nod.
Alex drummed his fingers on the laptop as he waited for all traces of the video to be deleted and replaced with the one he’d crafted showing an empty hall, empty elevator, and lobby without Ava.
He couldn’t let The Board use this to manipulate Ava. Although, in the back of his mind, he wondered if there was any chance she was guilty. Had the woman he loved more than his own life taken the life of another?
He glanced through the reflection on his screen at the bathroom door. Ava cleaned up inside before they started the hypnosis.
His stomach churned at the thought of it. He hadn’t been on board with this plan. He’d wanted to try anything else to find a solution. But this–this was far too risky. This could trigger another episode.
And seeing Ava in person with those cold, dead eyes had been enough for him not to want to ever see her that way again.
He felt awful, like he wasn’t being supportive, but he never wanted to see that feral look of fear again, either. The one that had sent her barreling out of the room after she’d fought her way free of them.
He just wanted her back to normal. At least then they could tackle the dismantling of The Board together. Right now, he could focus on nothing else except Ava’s health.
And he had no idea what to do to help her. His skills lay in the digital realm. Ava had always been the strong one, the independent one, the one who feared nothing.
Seeing her spiraling out of control made his heart ache.
She emerged from the bathroom as the last traces of her disappeared from the hotel’s security feeds for both Charles and Miranda’s rooms. “Did you get it done?”
“Yeah,” he answered, searching her face for any sign of impending disaster from another episode.
She crossed to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, laying her cheek against the top of his head. “Thank you, Ace.”
He pulled her closer, sitting her on his lap as he kissed her forehead. “Ava, I would do anything for you. You know that, right?”
She offered him a weak smile and a nod. “I know. And I appreciate that so much. I just…wish I wasn’t such a handful lately.”
“You’re not,” he said with a vehement shake of his head. “Avs, I don’t care if you killed a thousand people. I would still love you.”
His voice broke, the weight of his words hanging between them like a confession. He wasn’t sure if he was saying it to comfort her or convince himself.
She wrinkled her nose. “Really? Killing a thousand people is kind of extreme, Ace.”
He slid a lock of her hair behind her ear. “You know what I mean. Besides, this isn’t really you. It’s obvious. It’s like an entire part of your brain is shut down or something.”
“I know. It’s frightening. And frustrating. I hate being out of control like this.”
He held her closer. “We’ll fix this, Avs. Together.”
She threaded her fingers through his as she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I really hate to ruin the moment here,” Sebastian said with a sigh, “but maybe we could review the security footage for another suspect before we sent Ava off to la-la land with your crazy doctor friend.”
“Kyle isn’t crazy,” Ava retorted with a sigh. “But Shadow’s right. We should see who else is on that footage.”
Alex bobbed his head. He wanted nothing more to than to spend another few quiet moments with Ava, but they didn’t have time right now. They had a murderer to track, and Ava’s health to fix.
Ava shifted, but he held her in place. “Stay there, I can still type.”
She relaxed against him as he rolled the video back at a fast speed, searching for anyone approaching Miranda’s room.
“Here,” he finally said as someone appeared on camera. “There’s Miranda with someone else.”
With a few taps on his space bar, he stopped the video and played it forward, freezing it when Miranda twisted to face the camera.
Sebastian leaned over his shoulder. “That’s definitely Miranda, but who is she with?”
Alex shrugged, inching the video forward frame by frame. “No idea. He never looks at the camera.”
A curse escaped under Sebastian’s breath. “Of course not, because he’s the murderer.”
“Why would she be taking him there if he’s the murderer?” Ava asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“She has a point. She’s literally inviting a murderer into her hotel room,” Alex said as he poked a finger at Miranda unlocking her door and disappearing through it with her male companion.
“She doesn’t know,” Sebastian said as he straightened. “She thought she could get away with what she’d done. The Board must not have been willing to let her off the hook.”
Alex’s eyebrows shot up as he stared at the closed door. “So…she literally chose the disappear option and they offed her anyway?”
“I would say so,” Sebastian answered. “The Board is not very forgiving. I was surprised they were giving her the option to start with. They just didn’t want a mess to clean up.”
Ava licked her lips as she stared at the frozen image of Miranda’s hotel room. “Gosh, I hope that’s true.”
Alex rubbed her back, pressing his forehead against hers. “It’s true, Avs. Even in whatever state you were in before, you couldn’t have done this.”
She fidgeted on his lap, shaking her head. “Alex, I burned her house down. We saw that with our own eyes. So, yeah, I could have.”
“That’s different. That was…a warning.”
“Yeah, a warning that says I’m going to kill you if you don’t leave us alone. And now I may have.”
“If you did, why didn’t you kill the man with her?” Sebastian asked. “He hasn’t left that room that we know of. Wouldn’t he have been there?”
“Maybe he was in the shower, or maybe he was asleep. I don’t know.”
“Is he still asleep?” Sebastian asked. “Because after you left, no one has been in or out of that room except me.”
“And you didn’t see him?” Ava asked.
Sebastian shook his head. “No.”
Ava heaved a sigh, biting her lower lip. “Well, then I guess we turn this show over to Doc. We need to know what happened in that room.”
“Avs, I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Alex said, a slight tremble in his hand as he reached for her.
“Alex, we have to. I understand your concerns, but we have to know what happened in Miranda’s hotel room.”
Kyle entered the room, carrying a pendant and a syringe. “I’ve got your concerns all taken care of, Mav.” He waved the syringe in the air. “This will knock her out quick. If she gets too rowdy, we’ll give her this. Any one of us can administer it. Just jam it into her muscle and press the plunger.”
Alex grimaced. “What is it?”
“Just a high-grade sedative,” Kyle said as he thrust it toward Sebastian. “Probably you should take this. You usually get a hold of her.”
Sebastian grabbed the needle. “All right. I won’t let her get through that door again.”
“Do you really think that’s going to happen?” Ava asked.
“I hope not, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Kyle answered. “We still have no idea what this is or what triggers it. Let’s just prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
Ava gnawed her lower lip as she rose and crossed to the bed. “All right. Let’s do this. Oh…Ace, can you video this so I can watch it back after?”
Alex screwed up his face. “Are you serious? That’s weird.”
“It’s not. I want to hear what I say. I am not going to take your word for it.”
Alex dug his phone from his pocket. “That’s nice. I’m glad you trust me, your loving husband, Sparky.”
“It’s because you’re my loving husband that I want to hear it with my own ears. You’ll sugarcoat it for me.”
“I will not,” Alex said as he aimed the camera at her. “All right. I’m ready to record, Doc.”
“All right, Ava. I want you to lie back, take a deep breath, try to relax, and listen to the sound of my voice. Focus on this pendant, follow it with your eyes.”
Ava bobbed her head as she settled into the pillows, her eyes sliding back and forth as she followed the swinging pendant.
The air in the room felt heavier as Kyle’s voice lulled Ava into a deeper state of hypnosis. The soft hum of the air conditioning barely masked the tension in the air. Alex’s heart raced as he watched her eyelids flutter, the pendant swinging hypnotically in the dim light.
“Now, you’re feeling very relaxed. Your entire body is relaxed. You’re so relaxed that your eyes are getting heavy and are closing.”
Ava’s eyes slid closed slowly.
Kyle stopped the pendant. “Good, you’re still feeling relaxed as you listen to just the sound of my voice. I’m going to count backward from ten and when I reach one, you will be completely relaxed. Okay, Ava?”
“Okay,” she murmured.
He proceeded with his countdown, ending on one. She lay still, her chest moving up and down rhythmically.
“Are you relaxed Ava?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Good. Now, I want you to think back to the time when you were in Charles Whittaker’s hotel room. Now, remember, you are safe right now. He can’t hurt you anymore, okay?”
Ava’s brows tugged together, her breathing becoming labored.
“Ava, you’re okay, it’s just a memory. I know it’s disturbing. But he had his hands around your throat. But you managed to get away from him.”
“Yes, I have to get the decryption software.”
Kyle bobbed his head. “Right. Yes, you got that. And then Sebastian took you out of that room. He brought you to our hotel suite. Do you remember that?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Alex.”
“Yes, you talked to Alex. And then you passed out. And while I was getting vitals on you, you woke up again and panicked.”
“I had to get away,” she answered.
“Why?” Kyle asked.
“Because I had to get to her. I saw the note on the computer. I had to get there.”
“Whoa, whoa, Ava, slow down,” Kyle said with a shake of his head. “What note?”
“An email. Open on Charles’s laptop. It said Miranda would be removed tonight. It gave an address. I had to get there. I couldn’t let her die.”
Alex’s breath caught in his throat. She hadn’t gone to kill Miranda—she’d gone to save her. His mind whirled, trying to process this new information. All this time, he’d thought she might have been responsible. But she’d been trying to stop it.
“Okay, you saw what looked like an email stating Miranda was going to die tonight. And that’s why you left our suite?”
“I had to get to her. I didn’t want her to die.”
“Okay,” Kyle said with a bob of his head. “And then what happened? After you left here?”
“I went to her hotel room. I went inside. But it was too late. I tried to save her, but it was too late. There was too much blood. I tried to help her, but she died.”
Alex pressed his lips together, shaking his head as he shot a glance at Kyle.
Ava hadn’t killed her, she’d tried to help, for all the good it did.
At least they had that settled. Now they just needed to figure out what was causing these strange blackouts before she ended up in a situation that was dangerous.
She almost had already. She could have been attacked by the murderer as it was.
“All right,” Kyle said, sucking in a deep breath, “I think we know everything we need to know. I’m going to bring her out of this.”
Alex nodded. “She’ll be happy to know she didn’t kill anyone.”
“No,” Sebastian said. “She tried to help her. I told you The Board went after Miranda. And if we don’t do something about them soon, we’re all going to be suffering a similar fate.”
As Kyle worked to bring Ava out of her hypnosis, Alex shut off the camera, his hands trembling.
Sebastian’s warning echoed in his mind. They needed to put a stop to these episodes Ava was suffering from so they could put their full focus on dismantling The Board.
He wasn’t certain how much longer they’d survive if they didn’t make some progress soon.
How much longer could they play this dangerous game before something irreversible happened?