Chapter 2 - The Rose With a Secret
Claire tightened her grip around the white rose.
Its stem felt slightly thicker than a real flower should.
Three nights earlier, Daniel had handed it to her inside a sealed evidence room beneath Vale Biotech’s research headquarters.
“If they force you to attend a funeral,” he had whispered, “hold this the entire time.”
Claire had stared at him.
“A funeral?”
Daniel had not explained.
He had only peeled back one petal and revealed a tiny wireless microphone hidden beneath it.
“Whatever they say near you will be transmitted directly to Detective Mason.”
Now the small device blinked faintly beneath Claire’s thumb.
It was recording everything.
Margaret turned toward the relatives.
“My son made a terrible mistake when he married her.”
Several people looked away.
Victor Hale, Vale Biotech’s chief financial officer, stood near the first row. He was tall, silver-haired, and calm in the way powerful men often appeared when they believed everyone else was afraid of them.
He moved behind Margaret and whispered near her ear.
“Once she signs, burn the files.”
Claire’s body went still.
The microphone caught every word.
Margaret did not lower her voice enough.
“The laboratory records too?”
“All of them.”
“And the original trial reports?”
Victor glanced toward Claire.
“She will never see them.”
Claire let her shoulders shake as though grief had weakened her.
Inside, her fear sharpened into focus.
Those files were the reason Daniel had staged his death.
Two months earlier, he had discovered that Vale Biotech’s newest cardiac drug had caused dangerous reactions during early testing.
Victor and Margaret had hidden the results.
They had continued preparing the drug for release because the company’s stock price—and their personal fortunes—depended on it.
Daniel had tried to stop them.
Then he had collapsed in his office.
The official explanation was an allergic reaction.
Daniel believed someone had poisoned him.
Outside the chapel, Detective Mason sat inside an unmarked police vehicle wearing headphones.
The audio from Claire’s rose streamed across his tablet.
He heard Victor clearly.
Burn the files.
Mason looked at the two federal agents beside him.
“That is conspiracy to destroy evidence.”
One agent reached for the door handle.
Mason raised a hand.
“Not yet.”
Inside the chapel, Margaret grabbed Claire’s wrist.
“Your little performance has gone on long enough.”
Claire looked toward the coffin.
Daniel’s fingers did not move.
The signal had not changed.
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Keep waiting.
👉 The microphone had captured a crime—but Detective Mason was waiting for a confession far worse than destroyed files.
