Chapter 4 - The Doctor Who Buried the Truth
Dr. Samuel Vale did not reach the stairwell.
Officer Ross tackled him beside the elevators, sending the leather medical bag sliding across the polished floor. Security guards closed the corridor while Audrey retrieved the bag.
Inside were syringes, sealed medication bottles, surgical instruments, and a portable scanning device.
There was also an old photograph.
Thomas Mercer stood in front of a laboratory beside Samuel Vale and four other people. On the back, someone had written:
Helix Trial Group, March 2009.
Vale refused to answer questions at the hospital.
He demanded an attorney and insisted that he had come to help Chloe. The medical bag, he claimed, contained ordinary emergency supplies.
Audrey knew he was lying.
One syringe contained a fast-acting paralytic drug.
Another contained enough potassium chloride to stop Chloe’s heart.
The scanning device was designed to locate radio-frequency identification implants beneath the skin.
By midnight, Vale was being held on charges of attempted murder, assault, conspiracy, and unlawful possession of controlled substances.
Evelyn remained missing.
Julian sat in an interview room at the county jail, denying everything.
Audrey watched him through one-way glass.
He had already told three different versions of the kitchen incident.
In the first, Chloe fell.
In the second, Chloe attacked him.
In the third, Audrey staged the scene because she hated him.
Detective Mara Bennett entered the observation room carrying a folder. She had investigated financial exploitation cases with Audrey for seven years and was one of the few people Audrey trusted without hesitation.
“Vale’s company received monthly payments from an offshore foundation,” Mara said. “The payments started sixteen years ago.”
“The year Dad disappeared.”
“Exactly.”
“Who controls the foundation?”
“We don’t know yet. The registered directors are dead.”
Audrey watched Julian lean back in his chair.
“What about Chloe’s disability benefits?”
“Deposited into a guardianship account controlled by your mother. More than three hundred thousand dollars is missing.”
“Julian?”
“Some of it went to his businesses. The rest moved through Vale Recovery Services.”
Audrey opened the folder.
Financial statements showed regular transfers labeled “maintenance,” “clinical monitoring,” and “subject preservation.”
“Subject preservation,” Audrey repeated.
Mara’s expression tightened.
“There’s something else. Dr. Vale signed Chloe’s surgical records after the fall.”
“He wasn’t her surgeon.”
“No. But he approved an experimental implant during the procedure.”
Audrey looked up.
“What implant?”
“The hospital’s archived file is incomplete. The device was registered under a project code rather than a medical name.”
“Three-one-four?”
Mara nodded.
Audrey walked into Julian’s interview room.
He smiled when she entered.
“You’re not supposed to question family members.”
“This isn’t an interview.”
“Then what is it?”
“A courtesy.”
Audrey placed the photograph of Thomas and Vale on the table.
Julian’s smile disappeared for half a second.
“Do you recognize them?”
“Dad and some doctor.”
“What was the Helix Trial Group?”
“I have no idea.”
“Why did you try to remove a device from Chloe’s hip?”
“I didn’t.”
“She says you did.”
“Chloe says a lot of things.”
“She also says you pushed her from the landing when she was nine.”
Julian looked toward the camera.
“That accusation is ridiculous.”
“You were fourteen.”
“And she was clumsy.”
Audrey sat across from him.
“What was inside Dad’s metal case?”
His eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You searched Chloe’s room for the key.”
“No.”
“You found the compartment.”
“No.”
“You knew there was something hidden inside her body.”
Julian leaned forward.
“Did she tell you that?”
Audrey saw it immediately.
Interest.
Not confusion.
He knew the implant existed.
“Why are you afraid of number three-fourteen?”
Julian’s expression changed again.
This time he could not hide it.
He looked genuinely frightened.
“You opened it?”
“What is it?”
“You found the other key?”
“What does it open?”
Julian sat back.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he started laughing.
The sound was strained now.
“You still think this is about Dad’s money.”
“I never mentioned money.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Explain it.”
Julian looked toward the one-way glass.
“Is Vale here?”
“Yes.”
“Then you need to move Chloe.”
“She’s under guard.”
“Police won’t stop them.”
“Who are they?”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try.”
Julian rubbed his wrists against the edge of the handcuffs.
“When Dad created Helix, he thought he was helping people. Soldiers with spinal injuries. Children who couldn’t walk. Patients whose nervous systems had stopped responding.”
Audrey felt the room become smaller.
“What did he create?”
“A bridge.”
“Between what?”
“The brain and the body.”
Audrey thought of Chloe’s implant.
“What does number three-fourteen contain?”
Julian looked at her.
“Not what.”
He lowered his voice.
“Who.”
Before Audrey could respond, the lights went out.
Emergency alarms sounded throughout the building.
The door locks released with a heavy metallic click.
Audrey stood and reached for her weapon.
Red emergency lights illuminated the corridor.
Someone screamed outside.
Then three rapid gunshots echoed from the holding area.
Audrey moved toward the door.
Julian grabbed her wrist.
For the first time, there was no mockery in his face.
“Don’t let them take Vale,” he whispered.
A shadow appeared behind the small glass window.
The interview-room door opened.
May you like
A masked man raised a suppressed pistol.
Audrey pulled Julian to the floor as the first bullet shattered the wall behind them.
