Chapter 2 - THE PRIVATE DOCTOR
The triplets were taken to Saint Matthew’s Children’s Hospital.
Emily rode with Ethan.
Richard remained in the second ambulance with Noah and Liam.
Victoria was escorted into a police vehicle.
She continued insisting that the recording had been fabricated.
Marcus gave detectives the mansion’s original security server.
He also gave them Victoria’s computer.
At the hospital, doctors placed all three boys under observation.
Their breathing remained stable.
Their heart rates were abnormal but improving.
Richard stood outside the treatment room in his rain-soaked suit.
Emily sat several feet away.
Her navy uniform was still wet.
There was a red mark around her wrist where a guard had dragged her toward the gate.
Richard noticed it.
He looked away first.
Dr. Adrian Cole entered the corridor twenty minutes later.
He had served as the Hawthorne family physician for six years.
He had diagnosed the triplets’ repeated weakness as a stomach virus.
“What happened?” he asked.
Richard held up the recorder.
“You tell me.”
Cole’s eyes moved toward Emily.
She recognized fear immediately.
The second video showed Victoria sitting inside Richard’s study with Dr. Cole.
The timestamp was three nights earlier.
Victoria placed the silver pill case on the desk.
Cole examined it.
“You are using too much,” he said.
Victoria crossed her arms.
“They need to remain sick until Richard signs the boarding-school documents.”
“Temporary weakness is one thing.”
“Hospitalization creates tests.”
Victoria leaned toward him.
“Then make sure the tests show what you want.”
The recording ended.
Dr. Cole stepped backward.
“That conversation is incomplete.”
Richard moved toward him.
“What did you give my children?”
“I prescribed nothing dangerous.”
“You told her she was using too much.”
Cole looked toward the nurses.
“This is not the place.”
Richard’s voice dropped.
“This is exactly the place.”
Detective Mara Ellis entered the corridor with two officers.
“Dr. Cole, we need you to come with us.”
Cole reached into his coat.
The officers reacted immediately.
He removed only a phone.
“I am calling my attorney.”
Detective Ellis took the device.
“You can do that after we preserve its contents.”
Cole was escorted away.
Richard turned toward Emily.
“How long did you know?”
“Three nights.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was gathering proof.”
“You could have come to me.”
Emily looked at him steadily.
“I tried.”
“You refused to look at the library camera when Victoria accused me.”
Richard had no answer.
A pediatric specialist approached them.
“We found traces of a powerful sedative in all three boys.”
Richard’s face lost its color.
“Will they recover?”
“We believe so.”
“But this was not a single exposure.”
“Their blood tests suggest they have been receiving small amounts for weeks.”
Richard gripped the hospital wall.
Emily closed her eyes.
She had prevented three doses.
She had not discovered the earlier ones.
The specialist continued.
“There is something else.”
“The compound was mixed with one of their prescribed medications.”
“Who had access to that medication?”
May you like
Emily and Richard answered at the same time.
“Dr. Cole.”
