Chapter 7 - The Name Richard Whispered Before He Died)
Police surrounded the estate within twenty minutes.
The shooter disappeared into the woods.
Julian Mercer survived.
The bullet entered his shoulder and exited without striking a major artery.
He was transported to County General under armed guard.
Victoria was taken into protective custody.
The blue file became evidence.
By evening, investigators had confirmed several disturbing facts.
Richard Whitmore had been declared dead forty-seven minutes before his heart actually stopped.
His medical chart had been altered.
The nurse who documented his movement, Teresa Lane, had resigned from Westbridge two days after Richard’s death.
Her social security number had not been used since.
Her apartment had been abandoned.
Her car had been found at an airport.
No record showed her boarding a flight.
Daniel returned to Emily’s hospital room shortly after eight.
Ava remained with Detective Ortiz.
They reviewed the copied records.
One page bothered Ava.
“Why keep this?”
Ortiz looked at her.
“What?”
“The real records.”
“Leverage.”
“That’s what Julian said.”
Ava shook her head.
“If they killed Richard, why preserve proof?”
Ortiz considered that.
“Maybe not everyone involved wanted the same thing.”
Ava looked through the pages again.
Near the back was a photograph.
Richard Whitmore standing beside a medical research facility.
WESTBRIDGE NEUROLOGICAL RECOVERY INITIATIVE.
Dr. Vale stood beside him.
So did Julian.
And one other man.
Tall.
Gray hair.
Black suit.
No label.
Ava pointed.
“Who is he?”
Ortiz photographed the image.
“I’ll find out.”
At 10:13, Victoria agreed to speak.
Only if Daniel was present.
Emily was stable enough to remain without him for an hour.
They met in a secure hospital conference room.
Victoria looked twenty years older than she had at the funeral.
Daniel sat opposite her.
Ava stayed near the wall.
Ortiz turned on a recorder.
“Start with Richard.”
Victoria stared at the table.
“My husband funded Westbridge.”
“We know.”
“He believed Dr. Vale was developing treatment for severe neurological trauma.”
“What kind of treatment?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Induced metabolic suppression.”
Ava frowned.
“Putting the body into a near-death state?”
Victoria looked at her.
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“For what?”
“To slow cellular damage after catastrophic injury. If the heart, brain and organs required less oxygen, doctors could gain time.”
“That sounds useful.”
“It could have been.”
“What went wrong?”
“They discovered the drugs could also create a state almost indistinguishable from death.”
Ortiz said, “And someone decided that was useful too.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Richard discovered they had conducted unauthorized trials.”
“On whom?”
“Patients with no families. Terminal patients. People brought in unconscious.”
Ava felt her stomach tighten.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel whispered, “Jesus.”
“Richard threatened to shut the program down.”
“And then he had a heart attack.”
Victoria nodded.
“But he didn’t.”
Silence.
“He was drugged.”
“Yes.”
“By Simon Vale?”
“I don’t know who administered it.”
“Who ordered it?”
Victoria looked toward the door as if expecting someone to enter.
Then she said, “Richard whispered one name.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“When?”
“When he woke up.”
“You were there?”
Victoria nodded.
“For less than a minute.”
“What name?”
Victoria’s lips trembled.
“Elias.”
Ortiz asked, “Elias who?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I didn’t know.”
Ava remembered the man in the photograph.
“Was Elias the gray-haired man?”
Victoria looked at her.
“I think so.”
Ortiz placed the photograph on the table.
Victoria’s face went pale.
“That’s him.”
“Who is he?”
“I never knew his last name.”
Daniel laughed angrily.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I heard Richard call him Elias once.”
“What did he do?”
“He controlled the research funding after Richard tried to cancel it.”
“Through Westbridge?”
“No.”
Victoria looked at Ortiz.
“Through something called the Meridian Foundation.”
Ortiz wrote it down.
Ava felt a strange familiarity.
“Meridian.”
“What?” Ortiz asked.
Ava took out her phone.
“My brother.”
She searched old emails.
Marcus’s accident records had once been reviewed by a charitable organization offering experimental neurological treatment.
She found the message.
Meridian Recovery Foundation.
Ava stopped breathing.
“My brother was transferred to a Meridian-funded program.”
Victoria stared at her.
Ava continued reading.
The supervising physician was Dr. Simon Vale.
Her hands began trembling.
Daniel stood.
“Ava?”
She looked at Victoria.
“You said they tested drugs on unconscious patients.”
Victoria’s face showed genuine horror.
“I don’t know.”
“My brother woke up after doctors said he had no neurological response.”
Ava remembered Marcus squeezing her hand.
She remembered the unexplained injection.
The unusual sleep afterward.
The sudden cardiac decline weeks later.
She had blamed the accident.
Maybe the accident was only the beginning.
Ortiz said, “We’ll obtain his records.”
Ava barely heard her.
She looked at Victoria.
“Why did Emily start investigating?”
Victoria wiped her face.
“She found a key in Richard’s belongings.”
“What key?”
“A safe deposit key.”
“What was inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
Victoria’s eyes hardened.
“I am done lying.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Then tell us everything.”
Victoria looked at him.
“The box was empty.”
“Then why investigate?”
“Because someone had opened it two days before Emily arrived.”
Ortiz asked, “Who?”
May you like
Victoria looked directly at Daniel.
“You.”
