Hello, my lovely readers. Welcome to the beginning of the end. Yes. This the first of the last three chapters and we still have some twists and turns coming up. On with the show…

Chapter 28: Right Under Our Noses

If only someone would post a sign pointing to all of the correct conclusions it would save all us a great amount of time. This is exactly what Elijah Mikaelson would have liked as his hair fell into his eyes and his hurried gait took him to the front desk of the local hospital. "Hayley Marshall!" he cried. A sleepy and disgruntled nurse stared back at him through eyes that told a story of a seventy hour shift and a deep desire to snap Elijah like a twig. Her eyes went to her computer screen. Elijah wondered if the woman had even heard him. Would she call security if he simply made a mad dash for the stairs?

"Relation?" the woman asked.

"I'm her husband," Elijah replied. He tapped his fingers on the desktop, wishing she would work faster and not catch him in his lie.

The nurse looked back at the screen. "It says she's unmarried."

"I'm with the D. A.'s office," Elijah reached into his pants' pocket and withdrew his wallet. He flashed his card to her.

Sitting back in her seat, the nurse stared at him. "Friend or foe?"

"Friend. Lover. Father of her unborn child. Does any of that help?" Elijah tried for a smile and felt more like he was baring his teeth at her.

"Let me see that card again," the nurse waved a hand and Elijah handed over his card. She peered at it before handing it back. "She's up on the third floor. Hope she's expecting you. We do have security if she isn't."

"Thank you." Elijah bolted for the stairs. He did not feel like waiting to see if the elevator would come down to meet him.

Pushing the door to the third floor open, Elijah stalked over to the desk. A perky young woman sat behind the desk. "Hello, sir. How may I help you?" she inquired.

"Hayley Marshall. My sister told me she was in an accident. She was struck by a vehicle. I'm the father of her baby." Elijah hoped that this girl would not feel the need to toy with him.

The girl looked at the screen. "Oh, yes. There is a Ms. Marshall here. Would you like me to call her doctor and have him come out to brief you on her condition?"

"I'd like to see Hayley." Elijah tapped his fingers on the desktop while the girl seemed uncertain of whether to allow him through. "My sister came in with her. She's blonde, pretty and rather bossy."

"Oh, yes. Rebekah?" the girl smiled. "She just came through to get coffee. She might still be at the machine. It's just around the corner."

"Thank you." Elijah moved in the direction the girl had given him and found Rebekah. She had just bent down to pluck a steaming cup of coffee out of the machine. "Rebekah. Thank God. How is Hayley!"

Rebekah was startled. "Damn it!" she cried and her hand shook as she sloshed coffee on her it. Her cheeks were damp, too, when she turned to look up at Elijah. He felt as if someone had slugged him in the stomach. "Oh, Elijah." Rebekah shook her head.

Grabbing the wall, Elijah felt the lights beginning to dim around him. "No…"

"Let's," Rebekah muttered. She led the way back by the desk. Elijah felt like he was walking through the fog in London as Rebekah handed him a coffee and then the girl at the desk buzzed them through. Rebekah led the way to the closed door of a room with the curtain drawn.

"Coffee," Hayley sighed and Elijah's eyes widened when he took in the sight of a very life-like Hayley sitting on a bed. She looked tired as she held out a hand for the coffee that Rebekah offered her. "You are a life saver. Hi, Elijah. Thanks for coming."

"You're alright?" Elijah fell against the side of the bed. His arms went around Hayley who let out a nervous laugh. Pulling back, Elijah ran his hands through her hair before he pressed a passionate kiss to her lips. "I thought you were dead."

"What?" Hayley scoffed. "Rebekah? What did you tell him!" Hayley's gaze went to Rebekah.

Rebekah looked from Elijah to Hayley. "I did not tell him you were dead. He made an assumption. I simply told him you'd been hit by a car."

"And then you looked as if she were dead!" Elijah accused his sister.

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Well, I am sorry!" She huffed and moved to sit in a chair across from the bed.

"I was lucky," Hayley said. "They just side-swiped me. My leg's going to be a little bruised. And my butt. From where I fell down. But I'll be okay." She pressed her nose to Elijah's. "You were really worried about me? Huh?"

"Of course," Elijah nodded, cupping her face. "Just the very thought of losing you. It left an ache in me that nothing would be able to fill."

"Ah. How sweet," Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Do you suppose it's the real killer?" she inquired. Again, Elijah and Hayley stared at Rebekah. Rebekah did not seem to be fully aware of her audience as she spoke aloud. "Perhaps you are getting closer to the truth of who done it."

"I think you've been reading too much Ruth Ware lately," Hayley retorted.

Elijah let out a little noise that made the women look his way. "Actually, I wanted to speak to you about something." He looked at Hayley. "I was speaking to a source who mentioned something about a CDB. A pregnancy. And a will. None of that makes sense to me."

Hayley frowned. "Pregnancy? Will? CDB?"

"Intrigue," Rebekah added before sipping her coffee. "Perhaps… No. That doesn't make sense."

"What, Bekah?" Hayley sat up straighter.

"I don't know…" Rebekah shook her head. "Perhaps there is another will. For Gerard… Perhaps someone other than Marcel had reason to want Gerard dead. Because they stood to inherit…"

Hayley's mouth opened when someone knocked on the door and then stepped inside the room. "Hey, there. You look like crap."

"Thanks, Marcel," Hayley rolled her eyes.

Marcel made his way over to Hayley's side and leaned over. "I brought you some flowers."

"How sweet," Hayley replied. She took the flowers from him. "Why don't you come and sit down. We're trying to figure out who might have had motive to kill your father."

"That game, again?" Marcel shook his head and sat down on Hayley's bedside. "Besides half of Chicago?"

"CDB," Rebekah mused.

"Celeste Du Bois!" Hayley blurted. "She was having an affair with your father. I saw the two of them together. During that fundraiser we went to." Hayley was speaking to Marcel.

"Really?" Marcel looked disgusted. "I knew Celeste wanted to get to the top but I didn't know she'd get on top of my old man to get there."

"Ugh," Rebekah's nose wrinkled and shivered. "Just the image is making me want to be sick." Marcel leaned down and held up the wastebasket for Rebekah.

Shaking her head, Rebekah looked to Elijah. "How can we prove it was her who did the dastardly dead?"

"By not sounding like someone from an Agatha Christie novel," Hayley said with an eye roll.

Rebekah sneered at her friend. "Right. Well then. It's your case," she snapped at Hayley.

"I think it can wait another day," Marcel said. "She just got hit by a car."

"I'm aware of that," Rebekah glowered at Marcel. "I'm not a monster. I believe she should wait an hour or two before jumping back into the fray."

Marcel rolled his eyes and looked at Elijah. "You want to deal with this one while I deal with that one?" His eyes went to Hayley.

Hayley looked at Elijah. "I'll be fine. You just go and find whatever evidence you need to end this case."

"Are you certain?" Elijah felt dubious about the idea of leaving Hayley alone.

"I'll be fine. Go, Elijah!" Hayley insisted. "If you don't find a way to get my friend off the hook I might have to name the baby after someone who annoys you. Like that mime on Wabash."

Chuckling, Elijah moved to lean over and press a kiss to Hayley's forehead. "I will return."

"You'd better," Hayley replied. Her eyes did not move to his as Elijah made himself go to the door and then to follow his sister back toward the desk.

"Bye," the girl on the desk called out, waving to them.

"Good-bye," Elijah called back. He hoped that he would not be seeing her again. All he wanted to do was find evidence to present to his boss to shut the open one on Marcel and to then slip into bed with Hayley that night. However, plans rarely go exactly as you would like them to.

~0~

Rebekah made her way in the front doors of Mikaelson and Gerard with Elijah by her side. Several eyes went to the pair but no one said anything as they made their way over to the set of elevators and then entered. "Hayley gave me a spare key to her office," Rebekah said. "In case she needed something. She did not want to come back here, today, after the 'accident.'"

"Do you believe someone hit her on purpose?" Elijah inquired.

"Do I read John Grisham novels?" Rebekah retorted. Elijah simply stared back at her. "Yes! Yes, I bloody well do." She shook her head and they exited the elevator. Together, they walked toward Hayley's office.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Mikaelson. Mr. Mikaelson," Aurora greeted them.

"Hayley's been in an accident and she asked me to pick some things up for her." Rebekah informed Aurora, walking past the secretary and pushing a key into Hayley's lock.

"Of course, Ms. Mikaelson," Aurora replied although she got up to watch Rebekah move around the office.

"Aurora, has anyone else been in or out of Hayley's office today?" Elijah inquired, watching the redhead turn to look back at him.

Aurora paused and looked thoughtful. "No. Not that I know of. Just Hayley all day. But I did take a half hour lunch break around noon. You could ask for security footage," Aurora added the last bit after another pause. "Mr. Mikaelson—your father—might allow it."

"Might." Elijah sighed as he watched Rebekah doing something with the computer. He wondered if Hayley had given Rebekah access to her computer or if Rebekah had stolen the password at some other time. It would be typical in this firm for the lawyers to steal each other's passwords and to sabotage each other's work… That led Elijah to another thought but he never finished it when the sprinklers came on and the fire alarm began to wail.

"Wonderful!" Rebekah cried from inside Hayley's office. "Damn!" She stood near a printer. "Come on, you bloody thing!" she snapped at the printer.

"I think we need to go!" Aurora called.

A security guard came down the hall. "Everyone, it is time to evacuate the floor!" he called. Rebekah did not budge. Her eyes were boring a hole into the printer. "Ma'am. You need to come with me!" the security guard called out to Rebekah.

"Do you know who I am!" Rebekah shouted, turning to glare at the man. "I am a Mikaelson! My father owns this company!"

"Your father is going to have charcoal for a daughter if we don't leave!" the security guard, moved to force Rebekah out of the office when Elijah darted forward.

"I will retrieve her," Elijah said. He moved inside the office and picked Rebekah up. He placed her over his shoulder like he did when she was sixteen and went to one of his college parties— where she drank too much and almost went off with a boy she really wouldn't have liked afterward. "Come along, sister," he sighed. He, too, wanted whatever the printer was unwilling to release but not at the cost of her life.

~0~

Half an hour after the fire alarm went off, Elijah and Rebekah were still standing outside with a number of the employees of Mikaelson and Gerard. Many of the lawyers and staff were complaining bitterly about lost time, some joked about billable hours while others were worried about illness due to exposure to cold weather.

"It's Global bloody Warming out here!" Rebekah snarled at the person to her left.

"I know," the young woman muttered, blowing into her hands and shivering. "That's why I didn't wear my coat."

"Bloody fool," Rebekah muttered. Her eyes were burning into the building which did not seem to be burning. "Would they get on with it?" she said to Elijah, glancing at her brother with a bitter look on her face.

Elijah nodded. His eyes moved over the crowd. The one thing he did not understand was his father's absence. Where was Mikael? Such a rarity for his father to ever disappear from the office during a work week.

However, Elijah did not have long to ponder his father's apparent absence. Another security guard appeared at the door. "Sorry, everyone. It was a false alarm. You're free to return to your offices."

Another round of grumbles. Rebekah let out an angry snarl and began to elbow her way toward the doors. Elijah followed his sister, trying to be a little less aggressive in his progress. They arrived at an elevator which opened and a group of ten lawyers tried to plunge their way inside. "Out of the way!" Rebekah snapped at them. "Let me in!" she shouted at a young man who used a briefcase to fend off other lawyers. Rebekah smirked at their colleagues as she and Elijah slipped inside the elevator. When a number of them stared at her, Rebekah let out a hiss: "Find another ride!" Then she stabbed the up button.

Sighing, Elijah's eyes went to the ceiling. He felt so happy not to work here anymore. "Will this blasted thing ever move!" Rebekah snapped, punching the button with a fury.

The doors finally opened and Rebekah exited the elevator and ran for Hayley's door. It had been open when they left. It was closed now. "Bloody Aurora!" Rebekah snarled. She stalked over to the door and removed her borrowed key to let herself back inside. Once in, she stalked back to the printer.

Elijah watched as he saw his sister freeze in front of the printer. "What's wrong?" he called, moving to join Rebekah.

"It's gone," Rebekah replied.

"What do you mean? What's gone?" Elijah watched his sister stare at the printer. She shook her head and then moved to the computer. She turned it on. Sitting down in Hayley's chair, Rebekah began to type in a password. She stared at the screen and opened an icon to look through a series of files. "No! No! No!" Rebekah cried. "No!"

"What's wrong?" Elijah leaned over the desk next to his sister.

"There was something about a will. Nothing. Bloody nothing. I know it was there, Elijah. I know it!" Rebekah raised her eyes and stared at her brother. Her blue eyes filled with tears. Elijah believed he'd never seen his sister look so defeated.

"Did the printer work?" Aurora called. She stood in the doorway, watching them.

"Did you lock the door?" Elijah replied, straightening up.

"No." Aurora shook her head. "I didn't have time to. The security guard made it clear we had to leave. He was the last person up here."

"Bloody hell!" Rebekah cried. Grabbing Hayley's phone, she punched in a number. "Yes. This is Rebekah Mikaelson. I want you to send a list of pictures for everyone who is working on your staff today." Pause. "Do it! Now! Yes! This order comes from Mikael. If you don't believe me—ask him—but I don't think you'll want to given the mood he's in after that joke of a fire!" Pause. Smile. Eyes lifted to meet Elijah. "Thank you."

After a moment, Rebekah opened a series of pictures on her phone. "Aurora, come here!" she called.

Aurora came over and stood next to Elijah. "Tell me, do any of these men look like the one who came up here?"

Aurora looked at the pics. "I think that one might be him. But… Didn't he have a mustache?"

Elijah took a look at the pic. "It's not him." He looked at each picture. "None of these men are the man who told us to leave." He shook his head. "That man does not work here."

"Wonderful." Rebekah groaned. "He must have stolen the file and deleted the copy from Hayley's computer." Getting up, she took a minute to log-out of Hayley's computer and to turn it off. "Let's go."

"Thank you, Aurora," Elijah said quietly. He and Rebekah went into the hallway. "What would you like to try to do now?" Elijah asked.

Rebekah placed her hands on her hips. "This can't be it. We have to find a copy of that bloody will. I'm sure it is how we prove Celeste is at the bottom of all of this. Then we just have to find out who she hired to kill Gerard."

"How shall we find another copy of the will?" Elijah thought he knew the answer already.

"Father must have a copy. It is his business that will be at-risk." Rebekah moved toward the elevator.

"Father is not here today," Elijah stated slowly.

Rebekah turned and let out a laugh. "You're kidding. Of course he is. Where else would he be?"

"He did not come out with the others," Elijah replied. Then a knot filled his throat. "He did not come out because he was still inside."

"No!" Rebekah's eyes widened. "Elijah…" Without another word, they both went running for the elevator. Rebekah punched the button first. She moved inside the elevator and Elijah barely got inside before she pounded on the button to get them to their father's floor.

It felt like a century before the doors opened. Ava sat at her seat and looked calm until Rebekah went running toward Mikael's door. "Father!" she screamed. "Open the blasted door!"

"Rebekah. Your father is in the middle of an important meeting!" Ava cried, moving to stand beside Rebekah.

Rebekah whirled on Ava. "Are you in on it!" she demanded. "Father, open the door!"

There was no response from inside the room. "Ms. Mikaelson, please," Ava said quietly. "I will have to call security if you don't calm yourself."

"Get away from me!" Rebekah snarled. "Daddy!" she cried. "Let me in!"

Elijah could not recall Rebekah calling their father Daddy since she was ten. "Father!" he moved to the door and knocked. "Father, please, open the door for a moment. We just need to know that you are alright!"

Nothing. Elijah turned to look at Ava. "There is no reason to believe he is not alright. Do you have a key to this office?"

Ava shook her head. She looked worried for once. "Letter opener?" she moved to her desk and withdrew a sharp-looking instrument. Elijah nodded and used the letter opener to pop the lock open. He twisted the knob and walked inside.

"Father!" Rebekah shouted when they saw their father slumped over in his chair. There was a mass of blood on the floor. He'd been stabbed. Just like Gerard. "Noooo!" Rebekah screamed, running toward their father. "Nooooo!"

Elijah dropped the letter opener. "Call 911," he shouted to Ava. Then he dashed across the room and took hold of his father's wrist. There was a weak pulse. Mikael was alive, but for how long?

Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.

Peace,

-J