You Paid for My Funeral in Advance Chapter 07
Madeline opened the door still wearing her gala gown, a pale robe draped over her shoulders. The charity award sat on the coffee table beside the flowers and Adrian’s spare charger.
“Adrian.” She reached for him. “What happened at the hospital?”
Adrian walked past her.
Cole followed and closed the door.
Adrian placed the access records and payment logs on the table.
“Explain.”
Madeline looked down. “I don’t know what those are.”
“hundred–dollar transfers from your tablet,” Adrian said. “A message preview deleted after Nora said she was bleeding. Voice messages marked as played from your device.”
Her expression shifted.
“You gave me access for charity work. Donations, reimbursements, event payments. Maybe the device stayed logged in.”
“You accidentally sent Emergency fee to a pregnant woman who was bleeding?”
She said nothing.
Cole opened the laptop. The Meridian Hotel footage showed Harlan Price gripping Nora’s wrist near the lounge elevators.
Adrian placed the recovered message beside it.
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.
“Another accident?” Adrian asked.
Madeline stared at the screen. When she spoke again, the softness was gone.
“She needed money. I gave her somewhere to get it.”
“You knew what Price was.”
“I knew he had money. I knew he liked desperate women.” Her eyes reddened. “But she went, didn’t she? If she was innocent, why meet him at a hotel?”
“Because I refused to listen to her.”
“Yes.” Madeline lifted her chin. “You refused. I only showed you what you already wanted to believe.”
Adrian did not answer.
Madeline stepped closer. “Now you want to blame me? Did I send every cent? Her mother’s funeral? The car accident? Tonight’s Emergency fee?”
“No.”
“You hated her too. You heard people call her a gold digger and let them. You were ashamed you had chosen her. You needed a reason to hate her, and I gave you one.”
That was the first honest thing she had said.
Adrian’s voice was rough. “You’re right.”
Madeline froze.
“I’m not here to make myself clean.” He handed the file to Cole. “I’m here to turn in what you did.”
Cole took it.
“Send everything to command legal and base security,” Adrian said. “Device access, payment logs, deleted messages, Meridian footage, Price’s records. All of it.”
Madeline went pale.
“Adrian, this will destroy me. My family-”
“Did you think about families when you went after mine?”
She reached for him. He stepped back.
A knock came at the door.
Cole opened it. Two base security officers stood outside.
One of them showed the order. “Madeline Shaw, command legal has ordered preservation of your phone, tablet, and computer.”
“No.” Her voice shook. “This is private.”
“Evidence tampering is not private,” Adrian said.
The officers sealed her devices into evidence bags. The charity award was pushed aside, scraping against the glass
table.
Madeline stared at him.
“Even if I did it, I didn’t kill her.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I know.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
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“Because you did it.”
Her tears fell. “She’s dead. Ruining me won’t bring her back.”
Adrian was silent for a moment.
“No. It won’t.”
He turned to leave.
Madeline called after him, “Don’t forget, Adrian. You were the one who hung up on her.”
He stopped at the door.
“I won’t.”
In the hallway, Cole followed him.
“Where now, sir?”
Adrian looked down at Nora’s phone. The screen was dark, but the seventy–seven voice recordings still felt heavy in his hand.
“The hospital,” he said. “I haven’t finished listening to her.”
