Chapter 6 - The Man Who Signed the Death Certificate
Elena stared at the photograph until the image blurred.
Dr. Edward Pike.
Her mentor.
The man who had approved her nursing scholarship.
The physician who had attended her mother's funeral.
The man who had held Elena's hand beside Teresa's coffin and told her, "Your mother didn't suffer."
Vincent watched her face.
"Elena."
She handed him the phone.
He studied the photograph.
Luca leaned closer.
"That's Pike."
"You know him?" Elena asked.
"His name appears in Mercer Foundation medical grants."
Anthony swore.
"Victor funded Rosemont."
Vincent looked at him.
"You knew?"
"I knew Father donated."
"Donated."
Anthony laughed bitterly.
"That's what he called buying silence."
Elena stood.
"I'm going to Rosemont."
Vincent immediately said, "No."
She turned slowly.
He corrected himself.
"We're going to Rosemont."
"You're twelve hours out of surgery."
"Technical detail."
"It's a medical fact."
Anthony smiled.
"I like her."
Vincent looked at him.
"You've been alive for eleven years. Don't make me reconsider being happy about it."
For the first time, Anthony laughed openly.
It broke something in the room.
Not tension.
Distance.
Vincent looked at his brother.
Anthony's laughter faded.
"I missed that," Vincent said quietly.
Anthony's eyes changed.
"So did I."
Elena turned away, giving them privacy without leaving.
Several hours later, they drove toward Rosemont.
Vincent ignored nearly every medical instruction Elena gave him except the ones she repeated twice.
He sat beside her in the armored SUV.
Anthony and Luca sat opposite.
Miriam followed in another vehicle.
The old Rosemont facility had closed six years earlier.
Officially.
The property remained owned by a shell corporation connected to Marcus Vale.
Elena looked at Vincent.
"Why eleven years?"
"What?"
"Why didn't you let anyone touch you?"
Anthony looked away.
Vincent remained silent for a long time.
Then he answered.
"During the kidnapping, they kept us separated."
His voice was controlled.
"They would bring people into my room wearing masks. Sometimes doctors. Sometimes guards."
Elena listened.
"I couldn't tell who was there to help."
His hand tightened.
"So eventually any touch meant something bad was about to happen."
Elena's chest hurt.
"The rescue didn't fix it."
"No."
"Therapy?"
"I tried."
Anthony looked surprised.
Vincent glanced at him.
"Not successfully."
Elena understood.
"You controlled your environment instead."
"Yes."
"No handshakes. No doctors. No relationships."
Vincent looked at her.
"Efficient."
"Lonely."
His eyes shifted toward the window.
Elena realized she had struck something real.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
He looked back.
"You asked."
Anthony suddenly spoke.
"He used to hug everyone."
Vincent glared.
Anthony smiled.
"As a kid."
"Stop."
"Our grandmother called him Velcro."
Luca turned toward the window, clearly hiding laughter.
Vincent looked betrayed.
"I've survived assassination attempts with more dignity than this drive."
Elena smiled.
For a few minutes, the danger faded.
Then the abandoned Rosemont building appeared.
Red brick.
Boarded windows.
Elena recognized it from childhood.
Her mother had driven her past it countless times.
Never explaining.
Luca's team secured the perimeter.
They entered through the rear service door.
Inside, dust covered abandoned hospital beds and equipment.
Elena's skin prickled.
Miriam led them downstairs.
"The private ward was below ground."
Vincent slowed.
Memory.
Elena saw it immediately.
He looked toward a narrow hallway.
His breathing changed.
"You were here."
He nodded.
Anthony looked at him.
"Same corridor."
Vincent's hands began trembling.
Elena moved beside him.
"Look at me."
He did.
"You're not eleven years ago."
He swallowed.
"Elena—"
"You are here. Anthony is alive. Luca is behind you. I am standing beside you."
Vincent focused on her voice.
She held out her hand.
Not touching him.
Offering.
Vincent stared at it.
Then slowly took it.
Anthony watched.
The moment was quiet.
No one joked.
They continued downstairs hand in hand.
At the end of the corridor stood a metal door.
Miriam entered a code.
It opened.
Inside was an office preserved exactly as it had been years earlier.
Files.
Old computers.
Medical records.
Elena searched drawers.
Anthony found a ledger.
Luca checked the filing cabinets.
Vincent stopped before a wall photograph.
Elena approached.
The picture showed Rosemont staff.
Miriam.
Teresa.
Dr. Pike.
And another man.
Elena recognized him.
"Marcus."
Vincent nodded.
"They were all connected."
Luca opened a drawer.
"Found Teresa's file."
Elena took it.
Her mother's handwriting filled dozens of pages.
Patient observations.
Medication schedules.
Names.
Then Elena saw one line under Vincent's record.
PATIENT RESPONDS TO CALM CONTACT. NEVER RESTRAIN WITHOUT MEDICAL NECESSITY. RESTRAINT TRIGGERS SEVERE PANIC RESPONSE.
Vincent read it beside her.
Neither spoke.
Elena turned the page.
Another note.
VINCENT ASKED WHETHER HIS BROTHER SURVIVED. V. CASSANO ORDERED STAFF TO ANSWER NO.
Vincent closed his eyes.
Anthony stared at the floor.
Elena kept reading.
FINAL NOTE:
ANTHONY ALIVE. VICTOR KNOWS I KNOW. MIRIAM WILL MOVE HIM TONIGHT. IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME, EDWARD PIKE HAS COPIES.
Elena froze.
"Copies."
Luca looked up.
"Pike was supposed to protect her evidence."
Anthony understood.
"Instead he sold her out."
A sound came from the doorway.
Applause.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Dr. Edward Pike stood there.
He looked almost exactly as Elena remembered.
Gray hair.
Gentle face.
Expensive glasses.
The same man who had praised her at nursing graduation.
Except now he held a pistol.
"Very good, Elena."
Her blood went cold.
Vincent moved in front of her.
Pike smiled.
"You always did attract difficult patients."
Elena stared at him.
"You killed my mother."
Pike sighed.
"Your mother killed herself with stubbornness."
Vincent took a step.
Luca quietly shifted position.
Pike noticed.
"Don't."
Several armed men appeared behind him.
Vincent stopped.
Elena's voice shook.
"Why?"
"Money at first."
Pike shrugged.
"Then survival."
"You signed her death certificate."
"Yes."
"You told me she didn't suffer."
Pike's expression showed something almost like regret.
"She didn't."
Elena's eyes filled.
"You poisoned her."
"I gave her enough medication to stop her heart during sleep."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"You're proud of that?"
"No."
Pike looked at him.
"I'm practical."
"You murdered a nurse because she protected my brother."
"I murdered a liability."
Elena moved before Vincent could stop her.
She slapped Pike.
The sound cracked through the room.
Everyone froze.
Pike touched his cheek.
Elena expected anger.
Instead he smiled.
"Teresa did the same thing."
Elena's hand trembled.
"Good."
Pike raised the gun.
Vincent stepped between them.
"No."
Pike aimed at Vincent's chest.
"Move."
Vincent didn't.
Elena grabbed the back of his shirt.
He reached behind himself and found her hand.
Held it.
Pike watched.
"Remarkable."
Vincent's voice was quiet.
"What's remarkable?"
"The man who couldn't tolerate human contact is willing to die for a nurse."
Vincent looked at Elena.
Then back at Pike.
"Apparently I improved."
Pike laughed.
Then Anthony spoke from the corner.
"You forgot something, Edward."
Pike turned.
Anthony held Teresa's ledger.
"You wanted the evidence."
Pike's expression changed.
Anthony tossed it toward the open incinerator chute.
Pike shouted.
One of his men lunged.
Luca moved.
Gunfire erupted.
Elena dropped.
Vincent covered her.
Anthony fired.
Miriam screamed from the hallway.
The lights shattered.
In the darkness Elena heard Vincent grunt.
"Vincent?"
No answer.
She felt his weight collapse against her.
"Vincent!"
Emergency lights came on.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Again.
Pike stood ten feet away.
His gun smoking.
Vincent looked down.
Then at Elena.
His knees gave way.
She caught him.
Pike backed toward the door.
Luca aimed at him.
"Don't move."
Pike smiled.
Then lifted a small remote control.
"You still don't understand."
Anthony stared at the device.
"What is that?"
Pike pressed his thumb over the button.
A red light began blinking.
Elena heard a mechanical lock engage somewhere beneath them.
Pike smiled.
"Rosemont was built to keep secrets underground."
A timer appeared on the remote.
00:59.
00:58.
May you like
00:57.
Then the steel door slammed shut.
