Chapter 4 - the doctor's confession)
Nia looked around for another exit.
There wasn't one.
Marcus tried the handle again.
"Evan, open the door."
Evan held the recorder against his chest.
"You lied to me."
Silence.
Then Marcus answered.
"Yes."
The honesty frightened Evan more than another lie would have.
"Why?"
"Open the door."
"No."
"Nia is with you, isn't she?"
Nia's eyes widened.
Evan moved closer to the door.
"How do you know her name?"
Marcus exhaled.
"Because I've been waiting for her grandmother to make a move for three years."
Nia stepped beside Evan.
"What did you do to Naomi?"
"Nothing."
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not."
"Then where is she?"
Marcus did not answer.
Nia's face changed.
Evan whispered, "What happened?"
"My grandmother disappeared yesterday."
Evan turned toward her.
"You didn't tell me that."
"Because I had to get to you."
Outside, Marcus said, "Richard's security team is searching the property. You have maybe four minutes before they reach this basement."
Evan looked at the recorder.
"My mother said I can walk."
Marcus was silent again.
"Is it true?"
"Evan."
"Is it true?"
Marcus's voice broke.
"Your spinal cord was never severed."
Evan felt the room tilt.
He looked at his legs.
"Then why can't I move?"
Marcus spoke through the door.
"Because you've been receiving medication that suppresses nerve response and muscle control."
Nia stared at Evan.
Evan's stomach turned.
"You gave it to me."
"Yes."
"For three years?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Richard ordered it."
Evan's vision blurred.
"You could have stopped."
"I tried."
"When?"
Marcus said nothing.
Evan shouted, "When did you try?"
"Your mother found out."
The room became completely still.
Marcus continued.
"Claire discovered abnormal compounds in your blood after you became sick several months before the crash. She confronted me. I admitted Richard had ordered your treatment."
"Treatment for what?"
"Nothing."
Evan gripped the armrests.
"Nothing?"
"You were healthy."
Nia covered her mouth.
Marcus's voice became strained.
"Richard had begun using you for fundraising. A sick child generated sympathy. At first, the doses were small. Temporary weakness. Fatigue. Then the donations increased."
Evan felt physically ill.
"My father made me sick for money?"
"It's worse than money."
"What could be worse?"
"Control."
Footsteps sounded far down the corridor.
Marcus spoke faster.
"Richard discovered your mother planned to leave him. Under the Whitmore family trust, if Claire left with you, she controlled nearly half the voting shares in Whitmore Medical Systems until you turned eighteen."
Evan finally understood.
"I was worth more disabled."
"Yes."
Nia whispered, "We need to leave."
Evan ignored her.
"The accident."
Marcus hesitated.
"Your mother confronted Richard that night."
"What happened?"
"I don't know everything."
"Tell me."
"Richard said she drove away with you. Forty minutes later the car was found below the mountain road."
"And my mother?"
Silence.
"Marcus."
"No body was ever recovered."
Evan felt every hair on his arms rise.
"The newspaper said there was a funeral."
"There was a coffin."
"Was she inside?"
"No."
Nia grabbed Evan's shoulder.
"Evan."
The footsteps were closer.
Marcus said, "Open the door. I can get you out."
Nia shook her head violently.
"Don't."
Evan asked, "Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
The answer came immediately.
"But if Richard finds that recorder, everything Claire risked her life for disappears."
A loud metallic sound came from the corridor.
Security voices.
Marcus whispered, "Thirty seconds."
Nia searched the walls.
"There has to be another way."
Evan looked at the painted stars.
The seventh star had opened one panel.
Maybe the room contained more.
He began scanning them.
Silver.
Silver.
Silver.
Then one gold star near the floor.
He drove toward it.
Pressed.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Nia kicked it.
A hidden panel opened.
Behind it was a narrow tunnel.
Nia smiled.
"Your family is weird."
Evan almost laughed.
Marcus called, "Go."
Nia pushed the wheelchair into the tunnel.
Before the panel closed, Evan looked back.
"What will happen to you?"
Marcus was quiet.
Then he said, "Probably what should have happened years ago."
The panel shut.
Seconds later Evan heard the steel door burst open.
Men shouted.
Richard's voice echoed through the Midnight Room.
"Where is he?"
Evan stared into the darkness ahead.
May you like
For the first time in three years, he did not know where his father was.
And for the first time in three years, that felt like freedom.
