Chapter 6 - The Doctor’s Debt
Dr. Kline closed the chapel door.
The syringe in his hand caught the dim light.
Maren slid the photograph beneath the gray bag.
“Are you going to sedate me?”
“That depends on whether you listen.”
“That is what Reed says before every threat.”
“I am not Reed.”
“No. Reed still pretends to love me.”
Kline flinched.
He was in his late sixties, with tired eyes and a habit of rubbing the wedding ring he no longer wore. Maren had known him since childhood. He had treated her fevers, stitched her chin after a riding accident, and stood beside her father’s coffin.
Now he held a needle as if deciding whether she was a patient or evidence.
“Where is Lila?” Maren asked.
“Alive.”
“That is not a location.”
“They took her to the cellar.”
“What is in the syringe?”
“A sedative.”
“The same one you used after my accident?”
His silence answered.
Maren’s fingers moved toward the ceramic blade hidden in the armrest.
Kline noticed.
“If I wanted to harm you, I would have increased the dosage months ago.”
“You suppressed my recovery.”
“I slowed it.”
“Why?”
“To keep you in the mansion.”
“You say that as though it was protection.”
“It was.”
“From whom?”
Kline looked toward the stained-glass window.
“Your father had enemies.”
“My father is dead.”
“Some enemies wait for funerals.”
Maren held up the photograph of the newborns.
“Who is Elara Voss?”
Kline stared at it.
The syringe lowered slightly.
“Where did you find that?”
“Answer me.”
He moved closer.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Maren, you do not understand what that photograph can start.”
“It already started thirty-two years ago.”
Kline stopped.
Rain struck harder against the windows.
“The hospital fire,” Maren said. “Two babies were taken. One was declared dead. Which one?”
Kline’s face seemed to age before her.
“Both.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It was intended not to.”
He placed the syringe on the nearest pew and sat.
Maren did not relax.
Kline rubbed his hands together.
“Your mother arrived at Saint Orison Hospital under another name. She was seventeen, unmarried, and terrified. She gave birth to identical twin girls.”
Maren looked at the photograph again.
“The records say Edmund Vale was my father.”
“He was.”
“Then why another name?”
“Because Edmund was married.”
“To whom?”
Kline met her eyes.
“Celeste.”
The chapel became very still.
Maren heard the rain.
The hum of the mansion’s electrical system.
Her own breathing.
“Celeste was my father’s wife?”
“For eleven months.”
“No. Celeste married Conrad Halston when she was twenty.”
“After Edmund had the marriage annulled.”
Maren shook her head.
“My father never told me.”
“He intended to.”
“When?”
“When you turned eighteen. Then when you married. Then after the Vale Meridian merger. There was always another reason to wait.”
“Who was my mother?”
Kline’s gaze moved toward the chapel doors.
“Evelyn Voss.”
“The woman entering the house tonight.”
“Yes.”
Maren’s throat tightened.
“And Elara?”
“Your sister.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said she is still in the country.”
Kline looked sharply at her.
“You heard me in Reed’s room.”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“The other person on that call was not Evelyn.”
“Who was it?”
“I cannot tell you.”
“Then start with what you can tell me.”
Kline stared at the altar.
“Celeste discovered Edmund’s affair before the birth. She knew Evelyn was carrying twins. She also knew Edmund intended to leave Celeste and recognize both children.”
“So she set the hospital fire.”
“I never proved it.”
“But you believe it.”
“Yes.”
“Why take the babies?”
“To control Edmund.”
Maren looked at the photograph.
“Celeste raised neither of us.”
“She did not need to. She needed him to believe one child was dead and the other could disappear at any moment.”
“Which child did he raise?”
“You.”
“How do you know?”
Kline’s answer came too slowly.
Maren understood.
“You don’t.”
“Maren…”
“You cannot tell which twin was given to Edmund.”
“The hospital bracelets were changed.”
“By whom?”
“Silas Voss.”
“Evelyn’s father?”
“Yes. He ran Aegis Crown. He controlled the ambulances, the security systems, and the men who removed patients during the fire.”
“Why would he help Celeste?”
“He did not. He was trying to save both children.”
“Then why separate us?”
“Because someone was hunting them.”
“Celeste?”
“Someone above Celeste.”
Maren thought of the scratched face in the photograph.
“The man behind my father.”
Kline nodded.
“Silas?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Before he could answer, the chapel lights flickered.
Kline stood.
A voice came through the old speaker above the door.
Celeste.
“Doctor, bring Maren to the dining room.”
Kline looked at the speaker.
Celeste continued.
“And bring the bag she found.”
Maren’s blood chilled.
There were no visible cameras in the chapel.
But Celeste knew.
Kline picked up the syringe.
“We have to go.”
“No.”
“If you resist, she will hurt Lila.”
“She plans to hurt her anyway.”
“She has Lila’s brother.”
Maren froze.
“What?”
“Her men collected him from the rehabilitation center this morning.”
Maren looked toward the hidden black phone.
The hospital debt transfer had not freed Lila.
Celeste had moved before them.
Maren lowered her voice.
“Can you get into the cellar?”
“There are guards.”
“Is there another route?”
“The service tunnel beneath the altar.”
The unknown woman’s team was approaching through that tunnel.
Maren glanced at the floor.
“Open it.”
Kline shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because Celeste has explosives beneath the west wing.”
Maren stared at him.
“If Evelyn enters through that tunnel, Celeste will destroy the chapel, the cellar, and everyone inside them.”
“Lila is in the cellar.”
“Yes.”
“And you were still going to take me to dinner?”
Kline’s expression filled with shame.
“I was trying to keep you alive long enough to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Which daughter Celeste kills.”
The speaker crackled again.
“Maren,” Celeste said. “You have sixty seconds.”
Then a young man screamed through the speaker.
Lila’s brother.
Maren closed her eyes.
The black phone vibrated beneath her dress.
A message appeared.
May you like
DO NOT OPEN THE TUNNEL.
WE ARE ALREADY INSIDE.
