Chapter 5 - The Doctor Who Knew Too Much
Detective Brooks answered Marcus’s phone.
She did not speak.
Dr. Voss did.
“Did you find the ledger?”
Brooks’s eyes lifted.
Marcus went white.
Voss continued.
“We have a problem.”
Nobody moved.
“She’s waking up faster than expected.”
Naomi felt Adrian stiffen beside her.
Voss lowered his voice.
“If Evelyn talks before the ceremony, we’re finished.”
Brooks glanced at Adrian.
Ceremony.
The wedding.
Voss continued.
“Call me when you’re away from the house.”
Then the line disconnected.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Brooks handed the phone to another officer.
“Bag it.”
Marcus looked at her.
“I want a lawyer.”
“You should.”
“I’m not saying another word.”
Brooks nodded.
“That’s probably the smartest thing you’ve done today.”
Adrian stepped toward Marcus.
“Before you stop talking.”
Brooks raised a hand.
“Adrian.”
He ignored her.
“You knew.”
Marcus stared at him.
“You knew someone was drugging my mother.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Adrian moved closer.
“You knew.”
“Adrian.”
Brooks’s voice sharpened.
Marcus finally spoke.
“I knew Voss was managing her medication.”
“Managing?”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“She nearly died.”
Marcus looked at Celeste.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Celeste snapped.
“Stop saying that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re trying to make me responsible.”
“You put a pillow over her face.”
“You told me she had to be declared incompetent before the wedding.”
“Declared incompetent.”
Marcus shouted the words.
“Not dead.”
Staff members in the courtyard stared.
Celeste’s face changed.
“I panicked.”
Naomi almost could not believe it.
Celeste had just admitted motive.
Brooks stepped closer.
“Ms. Arden.”
Celeste realized too late.
She turned.
Brooks continued.
“You need to come with me.”
Celeste backed away.
“No.”
“You are not under arrest at this moment.”
“Then I’m staying.”
Brooks’s expression hardened.
“You can come voluntarily.”
A pause.
“Or we can continue this conversation while I request a warrant based on what you just said.”
Celeste looked at Adrian.
He did not move toward her.
That frightened her.
“Adrian.”
Nothing.
“Please.”
He stared as if looking at someone he had never met.
Celeste’s voice became smaller.
“You know I love you.”
Adrian finally answered.
“I don’t know anything about you.”
The sentence hit harder than shouting would have.
Celeste’s mouth opened.
No words came.
Brooks escorted her away.
Marcus remained with another detective.
Naomi watched Celeste cross the courtyard.
Then Celeste turned.
Looked directly at Naomi.
And smiled again.
Naomi’s stomach tightened.
Celeste should have been frightened.
She was exposed.
Her alias was known.
Marcus was turning on her.
Voss had implicated himself.
Yet Celeste smiled.
Naomi walked toward Brooks.
“Don’t let her use a bathroom alone.”
Brooks frowned.
“What?”
“She’s too calm.”
Brooks studied her.
Then nodded to an officer.
“Stay with her.”
Adrian stood beneath the archway.
Naomi approached.
“You should go to the hospital.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t know whether they’ll let me see her.”
“Go anyway.”
He nodded.
Then stopped.
“Naomi.”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry.”
She knew what he meant.
For doubting her.
For hesitating.
For letting Celeste’s first story matter.
Naomi looked toward the ambulance tracks still faintly visible on the wet gravel.
“Believe your mother.”
Adrian nodded.
Then he left.
Naomi remained at the estate with Brooks.
The detective had the flash drive taken to digital forensics immediately.
The blue ledger was photographed page by page.
By six in the evening, they had a preliminary explanation.
Larkspur Advisory Group was a shell company.
Registered in Delaware.
Managed through an attorney in London.
Its beneficial owner was hidden behind two additional corporations.
But the bank routing information led to accounts connected to Marcus Vale.
Payments had begun fifteen years earlier.
At exactly the same time Arthur Crane was accused of stealing seventy million dollars.
Brooks spread transaction copies across Evelyn’s dining table.
“Your employer has been keeping records for a long time.”
Naomi looked at the handwriting.
“She never trusted computers.”
“Smart woman.”
“She once called cloud storage ‘paying strangers to hold your diary.’”
Brooks almost smiled.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her expression changed.
“What did the lab find?”
Naomi stepped closer.
Brooks raised one finger.
“Send me the preliminary report.”
She disconnected.
“What?”
Naomi asked.
Brooks looked at her.
“The sedatives found in your room.”
Naomi waited.
“They’re zolpidem.”
“Sleeping pills.”
“Yes.”
“Mrs. Vale doesn’t take them.”
“No.”
Brooks continued.
“The pharmacy label is fake.”
Naomi exhaled.
“Can you prove that?”
“The lot number belongs to an antibiotic.”
“Good.”
“Better than good.”
Brooks looked at her.
“There are fingerprints on the bottle.”
Naomi’s stomach tightened.
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
Naomi frowned.
Brooks continued.
“And somebody else’s.”
“Celeste?”
“No.”
“Voss?”
“No.”
“Marcus?”
Brooks shook her head.
“Raymond Pike.”
Naomi stared.
“No.”
Brooks did not react.
Naomi stepped backward.
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Lab is.”
“Raymond wouldn’t plant anything in my room.”
“Why?”
“Because I know him.”
Brooks’s expression stayed neutral.
“So did Adrian with Celeste.”
The words landed.
Naomi hated them because they were true.
She looked through the dining room doors.
Raymond stood in the foyer speaking with firefighters.
He had worked for the Vales sixteen years.
His father had worked for them before him.
He had held Evelyn’s hand when her husband died.
He had attended Naomi’s sister’s funeral.
Naomi trusted him.
But trust had become dangerous currency.
Brooks continued.
“There’s more.”
Naomi looked back.
“The camera outage was initiated using Raymond’s administrator credentials.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
“Could they have been copied?”
“Possibly.”
“Could Voss access them?”
“Not Raymond’s credentials.”
“What about Adrian?”
“No.”
Naomi looked toward the foyer again.
Raymond laughed at something a firefighter said.
Normal.
Relaxed.
Brooks watched him too.
“Don’t confront him.”
Naomi’s voice cooled.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
She was absolutely planning to.
Brooks seemed to know.
“Naomi.”
“I heard you.”
Twenty minutes later, Raymond went downstairs toward the security office.
Naomi followed.
Not immediately.
She waited.
Then used the service stairwell.
The security office sat below the east hall.
Raymond stood in front of six monitors.
Naomi entered.
He turned.
“You okay?”
“No.”
His concern looked genuine.
Naomi closed the door.
“Your fingerprints are on the sleeping pills.”
Raymond froze.
There.
A reaction.
Not guilt.
Fear.
“What?”
“The ones found in my room.”
“I never touched any sleeping pills.”
“The lab says you did.”
Raymond stared.
Then slowly sat.
“No.”
Naomi watched him.
“When did you last go into my room?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“The window sensor kept triggering.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Did you touch my nightstand?”
“Maybe.”
“The bottle was in the bathroom cabinet.”
Raymond looked up.
“I never opened your bathroom cabinet.”
Naomi believed him.
Which meant someone had transferred his prints.
Possible.
Difficult.
But possible.
“Your login disabled the cameras.”
Raymond’s face changed again.
“What time?”
“6:41.”
He stood quickly.
“I was in the north gatehouse.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
“Who was with you?”
Raymond opened a security log.
His finger moved down.
Then stopped.
He looked at Naomi.
“Dr. Voss.”
Naomi’s pulse jumped.
“Why?”
“He arrived at 6:35.”
“Before Celeste called him.”
Raymond nodded.
“He said Mrs. Vale had requested an early appointment.”
“Did you verify?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He’s been her doctor for twelve years.”
Naomi cursed softly.
Raymond continued.
“He couldn’t get his access badge to work.”
“So?”
“I logged into the console.”
Naomi understood.
“While he stood beside you.”
“Yes.”
“You entered your password.”
“Yes.”
“Could he see it?”
Raymond closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Naomi exhaled.
That explained the cameras.
Not the fingerprints.
Raymond suddenly moved toward a cabinet.
“What?”
Naomi asked.
He pulled out a black equipment case.
Opened it.
Inside were forensic lifting supplies used by the security team after previous burglary attempts.
Powder.
Tape.
Fingerprint cards.
Raymond stared.
“One pack is missing.”
Naomi felt cold.
“Who has access?”
“Me.”
“Anyone else?”
“Adrian.”
“Anyone else?”
Raymond hesitated.
“Marcus had temporary access during the estate renovation last winter.”
Naomi leaned against the desk.
Pieces.
Always pieces.
Never enough.
Then one of the security monitors flickered.
Hospital feed.
Adrian had requested a temporary camera link to Evelyn’s private ICU hallway years earlier during her pneumonia recovery.
Only the corridor was visible.
Naomi saw Adrian sitting outside Evelyn’s room.
Head lowered.
Two officers stood nearby.
A nurse passed.
Then another figure entered the frame.
Dr. Malcolm Voss.
Naomi grabbed Raymond’s shoulder.
“Call Brooks.”
Raymond reached for his phone.
On the monitor, Voss spoke to the officers.
Showed identification.
One officer entered Evelyn’s room to verify something.
The other stepped toward the nurses’ station.
Voss waited.
Then moved.
Not toward Evelyn’s door.
Toward a medication cart.
His hand disappeared beneath his coat.
Naomi’s blood ran cold.
“Raymond.”
“I’m calling.”
Voss removed a small syringe.
Naomi stared at the screen.
He inserted it into a medication bag hanging on the cart.
“No.”
She grabbed the security phone.
Called the hospital.
The operator answered.
“Greenwich Memorial—”
“ICU.”
“Ma’am—”
“Get me ICU now.”
The call transferred.
Too slowly.
On the monitor, a nurse returned.
Voss smiled.
Spoke.
The nurse nodded.
Then rolled the medication cart toward Evelyn’s room.
Naomi shouted into the phone.
“Do not give Evelyn Vale anything from that cart!”
The nurse answering sounded confused.
“Who is this?”
“My name is Naomi Carter.”
“What?”
“Dr. Malcolm Voss tampered with the medication.”
Silence.
“How would you know?”
“I’m watching him.”
Naomi looked at the monitor.
Voss suddenly turned.
He stared directly toward the security camera.
As if he knew.
Then he ran.
The nurse abandoned the cart.
Officers chased him down the corridor.
Adrian jumped to his feet.
Naomi watched Voss reach a stairwell.
Disappear.
Raymond spoke into his own phone.
“Hospital security has him.”
Seconds passed.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
Naomi’s stomach dropped.
Raymond lowered the phone.
“He got out through the surgical loading bay.”
“How?”
“Someone was waiting.”
“Who?”
“They don’t know.”
Naomi looked at the frozen security image.
A black SUV appeared briefly beyond the loading entrance.
Its license plate was obscured.
But something hung from the rearview mirror.
A small gold falcon.
The Vale crest.
Naomi whispered.
“That isn’t Voss’s car.”
Raymond nodded.
“I know.”
Only three family vehicles carried the old falcon emblem.
Adrian’s.
Evelyn’s.
And Marcus’s.
Marcus was still at the estate.
His SUV was parked outside.
Naomi stared at the screen.
Then Raymond said the one thing neither of them wanted to hear.
May you like
“Adrian’s car isn’t.”
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