Chapter 8 - The Death Before Blake
David Hale had died four years earlier in what police described as a highway accident.
His car had left a mountain road during heavy rain.
There had been no witnesses.
By the time emergency teams reached the wreckage, David was gone.
Rebecca had accepted the official explanation because grief left little room for suspicion. David had been driving too quickly. The weather had been dangerous. The road was poorly lit.
Rosie had been three years old.
For months, she waited beside the front window every evening, believing her father would return.
Rebecca had never fully recovered from watching that hope disappear from her child’s face.
Now Blake’s final words reopened the wound.
She returned to St. Catherine’s immediately.
Rosie’s fever had fallen.
She was awake, sitting against the pillows while Elena read a story beside her.
When Rebecca entered, Rosie smiled weakly.
“Mommy.”
Rebecca crossed the room and embraced her.
“You look better.”
“Dr. Chen said I can have toast.”
“That is very serious progress.”
Rosie studied her mother’s face.
“Are you sad?”
“No.”
“You have your sad eyes.”
Rebecca kissed her forehead.
“I had a long day.”
“Did Blake say sorry?”
The question hurt more than Rebecca expected.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Is he coming to the hospital?”
“No.”
Rosie looked down at the blanket.
“Is it because he gave my medicine away?”
Rebecca sat beside her.
“Yes.”
“Did Marissa need it more?”
“No one needed it more than you.”
Rosie thought for a moment.
“Then why did he do it?”
Rebecca chose her words carefully.
“Sometimes adults make selfish choices because they think getting what they want is more important than protecting other people.”
“Is he a bad person?”
“He made dangerous choices.”
“That means yes.”
Rebecca almost smiled.
Rosie had always disliked answers that hid behind careful language.
“What happens now?” Rosie asked.
“We go home when Dr. Chen says you are ready. Then we make the house peaceful again.”
“Without Blake?”
“Yes.”
Rosie leaned against her.
“Can Elena stay?”
“For as long as she wants.”
Elena wiped her eyes and pretended to be interested in the storybook.
Rebecca stayed until Rosie fell asleep.
Then she met Martin in an empty consultation room.
He was standing beside a table with David Hale’s accident file.
“You knew I would ask,” Rebecca said.
“Blake learned enough to make you suspicious. I would rather you hear the truth from me.”
“Was David’s death an accident?”
Martin looked exhausted.
“I do not know.”
“That is not good enough.”
“David contacted me two days before the crash. He had discovered unusual payments connected to your family trust.”
“Why was he investigating Northstar?”
“He was not. He was investigating a charity that had received counterfeit medicine.”
Rebecca remembered the case.
A rural medical program had reported that several donated treatments contained ineffective substitutes. David, who worked as a financial crimes attorney, had volunteered to trace the donations.
“He found Vesper,” she said.
“He found a shell company connected to it.”
“And he called you because he recognized Alden Medical records.”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
“To stop investigating.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“You threatened my husband?”
“I warned him.”
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because the next day he was dead.”
The anger inside Rebecca became sharp and steady.
“You let me believe he lost control of the car.”
“I had no evidence of another cause.”
“Did you look?”
“I sent a private team.”
“And?”
Martin opened the file.
“The brake system had been damaged in the crash. Investigators could not determine whether the failure happened before or after impact.”
“Could Vesper have done it?”
“Yes.”
“Could Thomas?”
“I did not know Thomas was alive.”
“You knew he existed.”
Martin lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Tell me everything.”
Martin sat down.
“Thomas was born seven years before you. Your mother was not his mother.”
Rebecca said nothing.
“Gideon never publicly acknowledged him. Thomas had a rare genetic condition. Your father used experimental treatment to save his life.”
“The footage showed no aging.”
“The treatment changed how his cells repaired themselves. It did not make him immortal, but it slowed visible aging.”
“And Vesper wanted the research.”
“Yes.”
“Did Thomas join them?”
“At first, we believed he had been taken. Later, your father became convinced Thomas was helping them.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas believed Gideon had abandoned him when you were born.”
Rebecca thought of the courier’s face.
The eyes that resembled hers.
“He has been watching me all these years.”
“Possibly.”
“He arranged Blake.”
“It appears so.”
“And David?”
Martin did not answer.
Rebecca closed the file.
“I am removing you as hospital director pending a full investigation.”
Martin accepted the decision without protest.
“You should.”
“You will surrender every private record connected to Vesper, Thomas, David, and my father.”
“Yes.”
“You will remain available to investigators.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca stood.
Martin looked at her.
“I loved your father.”
“So did I.”
“I tried to protect you.”
“You protected secrets.”
“Sometimes they were the same thing.”
“Not anymore.”
Rebecca left him alone in the room.
Outside, Lena was waiting with new information.
“Marissa gave us the access code to Vesper’s payment server,” she said.
“What did you find?”
“A scheduled transfer.”
“To whom?”
“You.”
Rebecca stopped.
Twenty-five million dollars was scheduled to enter an account under her legal name at midnight.
May you like
The payment description contained only three words.
For David Hale.
