You Paid for My Funeral in Advance Chapter 06
Cole brought the first set of records before dawn.
Adrian was still outside the holding room. Nora’s phone, the discharge papers, and the tiny hospital bracelet lay
on the chair beside him.
Cole handed him a folder.
“Major Hayes, the emergency deposit for Nora’s mother was real. The hospital records are complete. Fifty thousand dollars, paid directly from your account to the hospital.”
Adrian opened the file.
Patient name. Surgical notice. Deposit amount. Payment time.
He remembered the transfer.
The night before the wedding, he had refused to hear Nora out, then sent the money after she left. At the time, he had thought he was buying his way out of the last of his own stupidity. She had finally named a price, and he had paid it.
After that, every time she called, he stopped hearing distress.
He heard money.
Cole placed another page in front of him.
“Before that payment went through, Madeline sent Nora this.”
Madeline Shaw:
If your mother really needs surgery, go to the Meridian Hotel and ask for Harlan Price. He helps military families. Do not tell Adrian. He will only think you embarrassed him.
Adrian’s eyes stayed on the message.
Cole continued, “Price is a retired defense contractor with several military family charities. The hotel footage shows Nora meeting him in the public lounge. She never went to a suite. When he grabbed her wrist and tried to lead her toward the elevators, she pulled away.”
“And Madeline called me there,” Adrian said.
“Yes, But she only told you Nora was meeting a wealthy man at a hotel to talk about money.”
The pieces settled into place with brutal clarity.
Nora had brought him the bill first. He had refused to listen. Madeline had sent her to Price, then sent Adrian to see the part of the scene that would hurt most.
Adrian had arrived ready to believe the worst.
And he had.
Cole turned to the next report.
“The hundred–dollar transfers did not all come from your phone.”
Adrian looked up.
“Some came from your main device. Others came from a saved tablet logged into your payment account. The tablet belongs to Madeline.”
Cole slid the access log across the table.
Several transfers after prenatal messages had come from Madeline’s tablet. A few voice messages about the heartbeat and fetal movement had been marked as played from that device. Some message previews were deleted before they reached Adrian’s phone.
But the transfer after Nora’s mother’s funeral, the one after her car accident, and the final Emergency fee had come from Adrian’s own phone.
Madeline had not made him innocent.
She had only made his cruelty easier.
Cole’s voice lowered.
“She also sent edited screenshots of the hospital bill to your parents and several officers‘ wives. She removed the medical notes and left only the amount. That appears to be where the gold–digger rumor started.”
Barracks gold digger.
Officer hunter.
The woman who married a major for his paycheck.
Adrian had heard those names for years. He had let them stand. Sometimes, in anger, he had smiled.
“How did she keep access?” he asked.
“You authorized her for charity event payments and military family donation work. She kept a logged–in device and likely had access to message previews. Tech forensics will confirm the rest.”
Adrian closed the folder.
“Where is she?”
“At the guest residence near the museum. Base security is watching her, but she has not been approached.”
Adrian stood.
“Back up everything. Hospital records, payment logs, Meridian footage, recovered messages, device access. Send copies to command legal and base security.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get statements from the Meridian guard and Price’s assistant.”
Cole nodded.
Adrian picked up Nora’s phone. Seventy–seven voice recordings still waited on the screen.
He did not play them.
Not yet.
His own phone lit up again.
Madeline:
Adrian, where are you? I am worried. Let me come to you.
Adrian turned the screen off.
“Let’s go.”
Cole followed him. “Where, sir?”
Adrian walked toward the exit.
“To Madeline.”
