Chapter 4 - THE DOCTOR
Nathan read the sentence three times.
Dr. Jonathan Vale has been putting something in your medication.
The words remained impossible.
Jonathan Vale had delivered Nathan after a difficult birth.
He had treated Nathan’s father.
He had attended Amelia’s funeral.
He had sat beside Mrs. Harcourt during the service.
He had visited Nathan every week for two months afterward.
Nathan remembered the tablets.
“For sleep.”
“For anxiety.”
“For grief.”
He had swallowed them without question.
Nora watched his face.
“You recognize the name.”
“He is our family doctor.”
Inspector Bennett took the note.
“Do you currently take medication prescribed by him?”
“Occasionally.”
“When did you last take anything?”
Nathan thought.
“Last night.”
“What?”
“A sleeping tablet.”
Bennett looked immediately concerned.
“Do you still have the bottle?”
“Yes.”
“Do not take another dose.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“That will not be difficult.”
Bennett placed the letter into an evidence sleeve.
“We need a medical examination.”
“I feel fine.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“I am staying with Jamie.”
“You can stay with him at the hospital.”
Jamie frowned.
“Hospital?”
Nathan crouched.
“It’s only a checkup.”
“Are you sick?”
“No.”
Jamie studied his father carefully.
Nathan hated how uncertain the answer sounded.
Bennett examined the remaining contents of the envelope.
The bank documents showed transfers from subsidiaries Nathan barely recognized.
The amounts were enormous.
Some flowed through holding companies in Luxembourg.
Others moved through Singapore.
Several ended at a private family foundation controlled by Mrs. Harcourt.
Nathan stared.
“What am I looking at?”
Bennett did not answer.
A financial investigator would need to examine everything.
Nora pointed toward one page.
“What does Aster Holdings mean?”
Nathan frowned.
“It was one of my father’s companies.”
“Still active?”
“It shouldn’t be.”
He looked more closely.
Aster Holdings had supposedly been dissolved ten years ago.
Yet transactions had continued.
The most recent transfer was dated twelve days earlier.
Six million pounds.
Authorized by A.H.
Nathan stared at the initials.
Adrian Harcourt.
Or Amelia Harcourt.
Except Amelia had been dead almost two years.
His phone rang.
Adrian.
Nathan showed Bennett.
She nodded.
“Answer.”
Nathan put it on speaker.
“What do you want?”
Adrian sounded irritated.
“I want to know why two police officers are outside my building.”
Nathan looked at Bennett.
“They work quickly.”
“What have you done?”
Nathan almost smiled.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
“This is insane.”
“Where is Mother?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“Then explain Aster Holdings.”
Silence.
Nathan closed his eyes.
There it was again.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“Adrian.”
His brother exhaled slowly.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Amelia.”
The line went quiet.
Nathan continued.
“She left records.”
“Nathan.”
“She left photographs.”
“Nathan, listen to me.”
“She wrote your name.”
“You need to listen.”
“Where is Mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Dr. Vale?”
Another silence.
Nathan stood.
“Adrian.”
His brother’s voice changed.
“You took Vale’s tablets last night?”
Nathan looked at Bennett.
“How did you know that?”
“Because you always do on Saturdays.”
Nathan felt cold.
“How do you know my medication schedule?”
“I don’t.”
“You just told me.”
“I’m guessing.”
“No.”
Nathan’s grip tightened around the phone.
“You know.”
Adrian cursed.
“Stop taking them.”
Nathan went still.
“Why?”
“Just stop.”
“Why?”
“Because you should.”
“What is in them?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you know there is something.”
Adrian said nothing.
Nathan’s voice shook.
“Did you help him?”
“No.”
“Did Mother?”
“I said stop taking them.”
“Answer me!”
Jamie jumped.
Nathan immediately lowered his voice.
Adrian spoke quickly.
“Get Jamie out of the estate.”
“We are.”
“Not the London house.”
Nathan stared ahead.
His brother knew that too.
“Why?”
“Because she has access.”
“Mother?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Adrian, if you know something and you do not tell me now, I swear—”
“She was never trying to kill you.”
Nathan froze.
Bennett’s expression sharpened.
Nathan’s voice became quiet.
“I never said she was.”
Adrian realized what he had done.
Nathan continued.
“So you knew.”
“No.”
“You knew about the pastry.”
“I knew she had plans.”
“What plans?”
“To make you sick.”
Jamie stared at his father.
Nathan moved farther away.
“For what purpose?”
“You were going to chair the emergency board meeting Monday.”
Nathan frowned.
“How do you know about that?”
“Because I sit on the board.”
“No.”
“You resigned six months ago.”
“I still hear things.”
Nathan felt a new wave of anger.
“What did she want me to miss?”
Adrian did not answer.
Nathan remembered the agenda.
Monday’s meeting had only one major item.
An internal audit.
Nathan had ordered it after noticing unusual payments in the family foundation accounts.
He had mentioned his concerns to only three people.
His chief financial officer.
Company counsel.
And his mother.
Nathan’s blood turned cold.
“She wanted the audit stopped.”
Adrian remained silent.
“Aster Holdings.”
Nathan understood.
“This is about money.”
“It started that way.”
Nathan’s heart tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“Do not go after Vale until the police are with you.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s frightened.”
“Of whom?”
“Mother.”
Nathan looked toward Bennett.
“Then tell me where she is.”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I don’t.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Did she kill Amelia?”
The line went silent.
Nathan waited.
“Adrian.”
Nothing.
“Did our mother kill my wife?”
Adrian’s answer came so quietly Nathan almost missed it.
“I don’t know.”
It was not the answer Nathan wanted.
But it was worse than a denial.
Nathan felt suddenly unsteady.
Bennett reached for the phone.
“Mr. Adrian Harcourt, this is Inspector Bennett.”
Adrian cursed.
“You put me on speaker?”
“You will remain available for questioning.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“Then you will have no difficulty cooperating.”
“I want a solicitor.”
“That is your right.”
“I’m ending the call.”
Nathan spoke before he could.
“Adrian.”
His brother stopped.
“If you know anything about Amelia, anything at all, tell me.”
There was a long silence.
Then Adrian whispered.
“Ask Vale why your wife canceled her appointment the morning she died.”
The line went dead.
Nathan stared at the phone.
He remembered that morning.
Amelia had said she was going into town.
She had not told him why.
Bennett was already speaking into her radio.
“Get a unit to Vale’s residence.”
Nathan looked at her.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“He treated my wife.”
“You are a witness and possible victim.”
“He knew her.”
“You will go to the hospital.”
Nathan started to argue.
Bennett cut him off.
“If someone has been altering your medication, your son needs you alive more than you need answers in the next twenty minutes.”
That ended the argument.
They left the estate under police escort.
Nathan sat in the back seat beside Jamie.
Nora rode in front.
Jamie rested his head against his father’s arm.
For ten minutes, no one spoke.
Then Jamie whispered.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Is Grandma bad?”
Nathan stared out the window.
It was the hardest question he had ever been asked.
“I don’t know everything yet.”
“She scares me.”
Nathan looked down.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jamie’s eyes lowered.
“She said you wouldn’t believe me.”
Nathan felt shame burn through him.
“Did she say that?”
Jamie nodded.
“What else did she say?”
The boy hesitated.
Nathan kept his voice gentle.
“You can tell me anything.”
Jamie looked toward Nora.
Nora gave him a small nod.
Jamie whispered.
“She said you were tired of me.”
Nathan’s heart cracked.
“What?”
“She said when you went to work, you were happier.”
Nathan pulled his son closer.
“That is not true.”
“She said Mommy left because I cried too much.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Nathan felt a rage so intense that for a second he could not speak.
Jamie continued.
“She said if I made trouble, you would leave too.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
His mother had been poisoning more than food.
She had been poisoning his son’s understanding of love.
He kissed Jamie’s hair.
“I need you to hear me.”
Jamie looked up.
“Your mother did not leave you.”
Nathan’s voice shook.
“She died.”
Jamie nodded.
“And I will never leave because you cry.”
Jamie watched him.
“I will never leave because you are scared.”
A tear rolled down the boy’s cheek.
“And I am never happier because I am away from you.”
Jamie crawled into his lap.
Nathan held him tightly.
Nora looked out the window to give them privacy.
The hospital examination took nearly two hours.
Blood was drawn.
Nathan’s medication bottle was handed to police.
Jamie fell asleep against Nora in a private waiting room.
Shortly after midnight, Bennett arrived.
Nathan stood immediately.
“Vale?”
Her expression told him something was wrong.
“He wasn’t at home.”
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did you search?”
“We found signs he left quickly.”
Nathan’s stomach tightened.
“What kind of signs?”
“Open drawers.”
“A missing suitcase.”
“His passport is gone.”
Nathan cursed.
Bennett continued.
“We also found something in his office.”
“What?”
“A locked cabinet containing medical records.”
Nathan waited.
“Yours.”
“That is normal.”
“Not these.”
Nathan frowned.
Bennett handed him a photocopy.
His name appeared at the top.
Beneath it were dates going back almost two years.
Each date included dosage notes.
Nathan read slowly.
D-4.
D-7.
D-9.
Then phrases.
Increased confusion.
Mild memory loss.
No suspicion.
Subject attributes symptoms to grief.
Nathan stared.
His skin crawled.
He turned the page.
There were notes from meetings he did not remember.
One line read:
E.H. requests dosage increased before 12 February vote.
E.H.
Eleanor Harcourt.
His mother.
Nathan’s hands shook.
Bennett pointed toward the final page.
“Read the last entry.”
Nathan did.
20 August.
N.H. showing resistance.
Dosage no longer reliable.
Alternative event approved for 23 August.
Nathan stopped.
Today was August 23.
The pastry.
His stomach twisted.
There was one more line.
J.H. witnessed preliminary preparation.
Must address child before he speaks.
Nathan looked toward the room where Jamie slept.
For a second, he could not breathe.
Bennett spoke softly.
“Your son wasn’t on that list for three weeks from now because something was supposed to happen to him then.”
Nathan looked at her.
“He was on the list because they planned to deal with him after tonight.”
Nathan felt the blood drain from his face.
Then Bennett’s phone rang.
She answered.
“Bennett.”
She listened.
Her eyes moved toward Nathan.
“What?”
Another pause.
“When?”
Her expression changed.
“Keep him there.”
She ended the call.
Nathan stared.
“What happened?”
“Your brother tried to leave London.”
“Where was he going?”
“France.”
“Did they stop him?”
“Yes.”
Nathan exhaled.
Bennett did not.
“There’s more.”
Nathan waited.
“They searched his bag.”
“What did they find?”
“A passport.”
“That is not surprising.”
“Not his.”
Nathan frowned.
“Whose?”
Bennett looked through the glass toward sleeping Jamie.
Then she answered.
May you like
“Your son’s.”
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