The Helpless Patient

Nobody in this house is helpless. She has a dead woman's name, a burner phone, and a job caring for a man who cannot walk. Maya Sorensen does not exist. June Ashby, disgraced toxicologist, does, and a federal indictment is looking for her. Cormorant House, on a fog-bound headland two hours north of San Francisco, is the last place anyone will think to look. The pay is in cash. The patient is a billionaire's heir paralyzed in a car accident, bitter, exacting, and helpless. His stepmother is gracious. His brother is charming. Then June smells bitter almond in the patient's tea. Someone in this house is trying to kill Arthur Rooke, slowly and deniably, and the only person who can see it is a woman who cannot go to the police. By the time she understands what Arthur really is, she is already the weapon he chose. A standalone psychological thriller told in two voices. No cliffhanger.