Chapter 9 - Trial 17
By sunrise, Marcus had located the first reference.
Trial 17 had been a Beaumont Medical research program in 1997.
Officially, it had never existed.
The archived files called it Project Aster.
Twenty-four patients.
An experimental cardiac medication.
One discontinued trial.
And three unexplained deaths.
Adrian sat in the country house library with Clara, Evelyn, Margaret, Marcus, and Daniel.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Marcus looked grim.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
“Why?”
“The records were sealed internally.”
“By whom?”
Marcus turned his laptop.
Victor Sterling’s signature appeared on the authorization.
Adrian stared.
“He wasn’t part of Beaumont Medical.”
“Apparently he was.”
Evelyn looked ill.
“Charles said Victor made a terrible decision.”
She covered her mouth.
“I thought he meant financial fraud.”
Clara looked at the patient list.
Names.
Dates.
Ages.
Some were young.
One was twenty-seven.
“What happened to them?”
Marcus opened another file.
“The drug caused severe complications.”
“Did Beaumont know?”
“Yes.”
Clara looked at Adrian.
He looked devastated.
Marcus continued.
“Charles stopped the trial.”
“But instead of reporting everything immediately, someone buried the data.”
“Victor?”
“And possibly Charles.”
Evelyn whispered.
“No.”
Marcus did not soften the truth.
“Charles’s signature appears on one confidentiality agreement.”
Adrian stood and walked toward the window.
Clara understood his silence.
He had spent years protecting a family legacy.
Now he was learning that legacy included secrets people had died to keep.
Evelyn spoke.
“Charles spent the final years of his life trying to repair something.”
“Maybe this was it.”
Adrian turned.
“Repairing it would have meant telling the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Did he?”
Evelyn could not answer.
Marcus interrupted.
“There’s another issue.”
He opened a corporate diagram.
“If Victor controlled the Beaumont Foundation’s voting shares, he could force a merger between Beaumont Medical and Sterling Health Holdings.”
Adrian stared at it.
“Which would give him access to the archived research vault.”
Clara understood.
“He wants to destroy Trial 17.”
Marcus nodded.
“Or retrieve something from it.”
Evelyn looked at the restructuring papers.
“So tonight was never about the palace.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“The palace was leverage.”
Victor needed Evelyn’s signature because a block of foundation voting shares remained in her personal trust.
With those shares, he could take control without Adrian’s approval.
Vanessa had been trying to force Evelyn to sign away the final barrier.
Clara thought about the attempted slap.
All that arrogance.
All that rage.
It had looked impulsive.
Now it looked like panic.
Vanessa had not simply been losing her temper.
She had been running out of time.
Daniel entered the room.
“We found Samuel Brooks.”
Evelyn sat forward.
“The groundskeeper?”
Daniel nodded.
“He never resigned.”
“What happened?”
“He was arrested two days after your fall.”
Adrian frowned.
“For what?”
“Possession of stolen property.”
Clara already knew.
“Planted?”
Daniel nodded.
“Jewelry was found in his truck.”
The room went silent.
The same method used against Clara.
Vanessa’s favorite weapon.
Adrian looked sick.
“Where is Samuel now?”
“He served six months.”
“Then disappeared.”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“Can you find him?”
“I already did.”
Daniel hesitated.
“He’s living in Pennsylvania.”
“Call him.”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“He hung up when I mentioned the Beaumont name.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Clara stood.
“Let me talk to him.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Why would he talk to you?”
“Because Vanessa planted jewelry on me too.”
Clara picked up Celeste’s bracelet, now sealed in an evidence bag.
“He’ll understand that.”
Adrian considered it.
Then handed her the phone.
Samuel answered on the fourth attempt.
Clara spoke carefully.
“My name is Clara Hayes.”
Silence.
“You don’t know me.”
“I work at Beaumont Palace.”
The line went dead.
She called again.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Clara sent one message.
Vanessa Sterling planted jewelry in my bag last night.
Thirty seconds later, the phone rang.
Clara answered.
Samuel’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“You need to get away from that family.”
Clara looked at Adrian.
“Why?”
A pause.
Then Samuel said something none of them expected.
May you like
“Because Evelyn Beaumont wasn’t the first person Vanessa pushed down those stairs.”
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