Chapter 8 - the doctor knew who was watching them
Samuel Voss chose a church.
Not a hotel.
Not an apartment.
Not a lawyer's office.
A church in South Boston that had been closed for renovations.
Gabriel entered through a side door just before noon.
He was not actually alone.
Detective Shaw had refused to allow it.
Two officers watched the street from unmarked vehicles, but Gabriel entered without visible protection.
Voss sat in the third pew.
He looked older than his photograph.
Thin.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
"You came."
Gabriel remained standing.
"You created fake psychiatric files about my daughter."
Voss looked down.
"Yes."
"Why shouldn't I call the police right now?"
"Because then I won't survive the afternoon."
Gabriel sat several feet away.
"Start talking."
Voss rubbed both hands together.
"Malcolm Mercer approached me about a year ago."
"For what?"
"At first, a legitimate consultation involving executive stress."
"Then?"
"He started asking hypothetical questions about competency evaluations."
"Children?"
"Guardians."
Gabriel frowned.
"He wanted to know what would be required to remove a parent as guardian if the parent suffered psychological instability."
"Me."
"Possibly."
"Possibly?"
"Your wife was also discussed."
Gabriel stared at him.
"Julia?"
"Malcolm was building alternatives."
"For what?"
"For control of the trust."
Voss looked toward the church doors.
"He believed your father made a mistake when he allowed the Children's Trust to become tied to direct descendants."
"My father didn't create it."
"No. Your grandfather did. Your father modified it."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"How?"
"If anything happened to you, Julia would control the children's voting shares until they became adults."
Gabriel felt the pieces moving into place.
"Malcolm wanted Julia removed."
"Not physically. At first."
"At first?"
Voss swallowed.
"He wanted her declared unstable."
Gabriel remembered Caroline repeatedly describing Julia as paranoid.
He understood now.
It had been preparation.
"What changed?"
"Julia found out."
"How?"
"I told her."
Gabriel froze.
Voss looked ashamed.
"I couldn't continue. She came to my office after finding one of the draft reports."
"You met her?"
"Several times."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She didn't trust anyone."
"Including me."
Voss looked at him.
"Especially you."
The answer hurt, even though Gabriel already knew.
"Why?"
"Because Malcolm had access to your accounts, your schedules, your private communications."
"That doesn't mean I helped him."
"Julia didn't know that."
Voss continued.
"She believed someone had installed monitoring software on your home devices."
Gabriel remembered the power failure.
The security shutdown.
The stolen phone.
"Was she right?"
"Yes."
Gabriel stared at him.
"Who installed it?"
"I don't know."
"You said someone inside the police helped Malcolm."
Voss became visibly nervous.
"After Julia died, I tried to leave. Malcolm found me."
"What happened?"
"He showed me photographs of my son."
Gabriel understood immediately.
"Blackmail."
"Threats."
"Who delivered the photographs?"
"A police officer."
"Name."
Voss looked toward the doors again.
"Lieutenant Aaron Cole."
Gabriel knew the name.
Cole had supervised the initial investigation into Julia's crash.
Gabriel's anger rose.
"You're telling me the man responsible for investigating Julia's death worked for Malcolm."
"I'm telling you he delivered Malcolm's threats."
"Same thing."
"Maybe."
Gabriel stood.
"I need evidence."
Voss reached into his jacket.
Gabriel tensed.
The doctor produced a small memory card.
"I kept copies."
"Of what?"
"Everything I could."
Gabriel took it.
"There are bank transfers. Emails. Recordings."
"Malcolm?"
"Some."
"Cole?"
"Yes."
"Julia's accident?"
Voss hesitated.
"Not directly."
Gabriel's disappointment showed.
"But there is something else."
"What?"
Voss looked at him.
"Julia came to see me the night before she died."
Gabriel stopped moving.
"What did she say?"
"She told me she had finally found the person moving money through the trust."
"Who?"
"She didn't give me the name."
"Why not?"
"She said she wanted to confront them first."
Gabriel's voice rose.
"That was dangerous."
"She knew."
"What else?"
Voss looked down.
"She gave me a sealed envelope and told me to open it if she died."
Gabriel's heart accelerated.
"Where is it?"
Voss closed his eyes.
"Gone."
"What?"
"Someone broke into my office after the crash."
Gabriel stepped toward him.
"You lost the one thing she left?"
"I didn't open it immediately. I panicked."
"What was inside?"
"I don't know."
Gabriel turned away in frustration.
Voss quickly added, "But whoever stole it missed something."
Gabriel looked back.
"Julia wrote numbers on the outside."
"What numbers?"
Voss recited them.
Gabriel repeated them silently.
Six digits.
Then four.
Then two.
They meant nothing.
Until he remembered Julia's habit.
She labeled family photographs by date and room number.
Gabriel took out his phone.
"What exactly were the numbers?"
Voss repeated them.
Gabriel entered them.
October 17.
Room 42.
Cabinet 6.
He suddenly knew the place.
Mercer Holdings headquarters.
The forty-second floor.
Julia's old office.
Cabinet six.
Gabriel turned toward the door.
Voss grabbed his sleeve.
"Wait."
"What?"
"If you're going there, don't use the elevator."
"Why?"
"Because Malcolm controls the building."
Gabriel looked at him.
Voss released his sleeve.
"And Gabriel?"
"What?"
"The stroller wasn't the first attempt."
Gabriel froze.
Voss looked sick.
"Three weeks before Julia died, someone paid me to create a report claiming Emma's birth had caused Julia severe postpartum psychosis."
Gabriel stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because if Julia had survived but the baby had not, they needed a story explaining why."
The church seemed to become silent.
Gabriel understood the implication.
Emma had been a target before she was even old enough to crawl.
He turned toward the exit.
Then the church lights went out.
A gunshot shattered one of the side windows.
Voss dropped to the floor.
Gabriel pulled him behind the pew.
Another shot struck the wall.
Outside, police shouted.
Tires screamed.
The attack lasted less than twenty seconds.
Then silence returned.
Detective Shaw rushed inside.
"Gabriel!"
"I'm okay."
Voss was shaking.
Shaw looked toward the broken window.
"They knew he was here."
Voss stared at her.
Gabriel looked at Shaw too.
Someone had known.
Someone inside law enforcement.
Shaw understood what they were thinking.
Her expression hardened.
"I told only two people."
"Who?"
"My captain."
"And?"
May you like
She hesitated.
"Lieutenant Cole."
