Chapter 10 - The Doctor Who Knew Who Survived
Dr. Eleanor Price disappeared before police reached her home.
Her office had been cleaned.
Computer drives removed.
Patient records shredded.
Nathaniel stared at the empty file cabinets and felt something colder than anger.
Planning.
This was not a frightened doctor running from questions.
Someone had prepared for this.
Rebecca found one thing they missed.
A small paper appointment calendar wedged behind a cabinet.
Eleanor had crossed out most names.
But one date remained.
Friday.
11:30 P.M.
D.H.
Samuel stared.
“Daniel Hale.”
The location beside it was written as:
C-17.
Nathaniel asked Samuel, “Mean anything?”
“No.”
Rebecca turned pages.
C-17 appeared three more times.
Always late at night.
Andrew searched corporate records.
Carter Holdings once owned warehouse units in an industrial complex.
Building C.
Unit 17.
The property had been sold fifteen years earlier.
The current owner was a shell company.
Nathaniel smiled grimly.
“Of course.”
They went with police.
Unit C-17 was locked.
Inside, shelves held decades of records.
Photographs.
Video tapes.
Bank documents.
And medical files.
Rebecca found Thomas’s.
The file documented injuries from the bridge crash.
Broken ribs.
Concussion.
Severe leg trauma.
Someone had treated him privately.
Dr. Eleanor Price.
Nathaniel looked at Samuel.
“She helped him survive.”
Samuel nodded.
“So she wasn’t only working for Margaret.”
Andrew found another file.
Daniel Hale.
Treatment dates beginning two years after his supposed death.
Samuel sat down.
“My brother has been alive all this time.”
Rebecca touched his shoulder.
Nathaniel searched the desk.
He found photographs of his father taken secretly during the final year of Charles’s life.
Some showed Charles meeting Thomas.
Others showed him visiting Eleanor.
One showed Charles meeting Daniel.
All three men had secretly reunited.
Why?
Rebecca found the answer in a recorded conversation.
Charles’s voice.
“We tell Nathaniel everything.”
Daniel’s voice responded.
“Not until we know Victor is contained.”
Thomas said, “Rebecca has a right to know.”
Charles replied, “So does my son.”
The recording continued.
They had formed a plan.
Expose the old fraud.
Protect Rebecca.
Remove Victor.
But Eleanor interrupted.
“You’re all assuming Margaret will let this happen.”
Nathaniel paused the recording.
Rebecca stared.
Eleanor had been in the room.
Samuel whispered, “She was helping them.”
Nathaniel pressed play.
Charles said, “Margaret has no choice.”
Eleanor laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand your wife.”
The recording ended.
Andrew looked at Nathaniel.
“Mom knew?”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca searched another box.
She found a medical toxicology report.
Charles Carter.
Nathaniel’s heartbeat changed.
Cause of death:
Cardiac arrhythmia.
Possible medication interaction.
No evidence of deliberate poisoning.
Nathaniel exhaled.
At least one suspicion eased.
His mother’s irresponsible request may have contributed.
But no murder was proven.
Then Rebecca turned the page.
A handwritten note appeared beneath the official report.
PATIENT WAS WARNED TO STOP MEDICATION 48 HOURS PRIOR.
Nathaniel frowned.
“If Dad was warned, why did he keep taking it?”
Andrew found the answer.
A photograph of Charles’s pill bottle.
The label had been replaced.
Dosage doubled.
Nathaniel stared.
Somebody had altered it.
Rebecca whispered, “Eleanor?”
A voice behind them answered.
“No.”
They turned.
Eleanor stood in the doorway.
Police raised weapons.
She lifted her hands.
“I came voluntarily.”
Nathaniel stepped toward her.
“Who changed my father’s medication?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Victor.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
Eleanor explained.
Victor discovered the plan to expose him.
He changed Charles’s medication.
The death looked natural.
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“He threatened my daughter.”
Nathaniel stared.
“All these people protected crimes because Victor threatened their children.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
“That was how he controlled people.”
Rebecca asked, “Where are Thomas and Daniel?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“I promised Thomas.”
Rebecca’s voice rose.
“I’m his daughter.”
“And he is terrified that coming home will put you at risk again.”
“Victor is dead.”
Eleanor looked toward Caroline.
“Yes.”
Something about the answer bothered Nathaniel.
“Victor is dead, right?”
Nobody spoke.
Caroline stared.
“I buried him.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Did you see the body?”
Caroline’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“His face?”
Caroline opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
Victor had died in a car fire.
The coffin had been closed.
Dental records confirmed identification.
Nathaniel knew what Eleanor was implying.
“No.”
Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
Eleanor whispered, “Daniel has spent three years trying to prove Victor survived that crash.”
Samuel stood.
“My brother knows where he is?”
“He thinks so.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“He came back because Daniel finally found Victor.”
Nathaniel’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then a man chuckled softly.
Nathaniel had heard that laugh at family dinners for twenty years.
Victor Mercer.
“Nate.”
Nathaniel’s blood froze.
“Victor.”
Caroline grabbed the table.
The voice continued.
“You’ve been asking the wrong question.”
“What question?”
“You keep wondering why Rebecca was treated like a stranger in your house.”
Nathaniel looked at his wife.
Victor laughed again.
“She wasn’t being punished because she found the ledger.”
Nathaniel gripped the phone.
“Then why?”
“Because your mother finally learned who Rebecca really is.”
The call ended.
Nathaniel stared at Rebecca.
May you like
And Margaret, standing behind them, whispered:
“Oh God.”
