Chapter 11 - The Doctor Who Signed the Lie
Dr. Sloan stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
"I need legal counsel."
Daniel blocked the door.
"You'll have plenty of time for that."
Adrian remained seated.
But Charlotte saw the muscle tighten in his jaw.
Victor calmly closed his folder.
"This proves nothing."
Charlotte slid the toxicology report across the table.
"Digoxin."
Several board members exchanged worried looks.
Charlotte continued.
"My mother had no prescription for it."
Sloan shook his head.
"Contamination is possible."
"Not at these levels."
"You aren't a physician."
"No."
Charlotte looked directly at him.
"But the three independent forensic pathologists who reviewed the samples are."
Sloan's breathing quickened.
Adrian spoke.
"Frederick."
One word.
A warning.
Sloan looked at him.
Charlotte noticed.
"So he controls you too."
Sloan's eyes filled with panic.
"I didn't kill Eleanor."
Charlotte stood.
"Then who did?"
Nobody moved.
Sloan looked toward Victor.
Then Adrian.
Finally, Celeste stepped through the boardroom doors.
She held her phone.
"I know who delivered the drug."
Victor turned.
"What are you doing here?"
"Saving myself."
Celeste placed the phone on the table.
An audio recording began playing.
Marcus Reed's voice filled the room.
Sloan will prepare the dose.
Eleanor takes tea at nine.
Make sure the cameras on the executive floor fail between 8:45 and 9:15.
Charlotte couldn't move.
Her mother's final morning suddenly became real.
Tea.
A quiet office.
People she trusted surrounding her.
Adrian stood.
"This meeting is over."
Charlotte blocked his path.
"No."
Adrian leaned close.
"You have no idea what you're challenging."
"My mother's killers."
"Something much larger."
"Then tell me."
Victor interrupted.
"Don't."
Charlotte turned.
There was fear in Victor's voice now.
Adrian looked toward him.
For several seconds, the two men appeared to have an entire conversation without words.
Then Adrian laughed.
"Northstar."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Who's behind it?"
Adrian looked directly at Charlotte.
"Your father."
Silence.
Charlotte felt as though the room tilted.
"My father died twelve years ago."
Adrian smiled.
"Did he?"
Charlotte's throat tightened.
She remembered the funeral.
The closed casket.
The private burial.
Her mother's refusal to discuss the accident afterward.
"No."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Ask yourself why Eleanor never allowed the coffin to be opened."
Charlotte shook her head.
"You're lying."
"Maybe."
Adrian buttoned his jacket.
"Or maybe everything you believe about your family was designed for you."
Police entered the boardroom.
Daniel had called them before the meeting began.
Dr. Sloan was detained.
Celeste offered herself as a cooperating witness.
Victor demanded his attorney.
Adrian remained calm as officers approached.
Then every phone in the room rang simultaneously.
Charlotte looked at hers.
A single message had appeared.
CHARLOTTE.
COME TO THE OLD VALE TOWER.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOUR FATHER DISAPPEARED.
Attached was a photograph taken less than an hour earlier.
An older man stood beside a window.
Charlotte stared at his face.
Twelve years had passed.
His hair was gray.
There were scars around his eyes.
May you like
But she knew him.
Her father was alive.
