Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO SIGNED THE REPORT
Dr. Samuel Price met them in a small office at a rehabilitation center.
“I wondered when someone would ask about James Cole,” he said.
Adrian sat opposite him. “You signed his death report.”
“I did not. That’s a copy of my signature. I never examined any
remains.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“I did. Two days later, a man came to my home and threatened my
daughter. He said he represented the Cole family.”
Gabriel showed him Victor’s photograph.
Dr. Price shook his head. “Not him. But the man wore a ring with the
family crest.”
Adrian felt his stomach tighten. “Was James alive after the explosion?”
The doctor nodded.
“He was brought to a private clinic under an assumed name. He had
serious injuries and remained unconscious for weeks. I was called in to
consult. I recognized him, but the clinic director told me not to
contact his family.”
“Did James recover?”
“Eventually. He asked about his brother and a woman named Emma. He tried
to leave, but he was too weak.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know. He was transferred. The paperwork listed a facility in
Vermont, but that address belonged to an abandoned property.”
The doctor opened a drawer and removed a folded note.
“He asked me to keep this. He said it should go to Adrian if his brother
ever came looking.”
Adrian unfolded it.
I tried to come home. They made sure I couldn’t.
If Emma has the lighter, she knows I was there. Find the Northstar
ledger. It will show who paid to keep me hidden.
Below the message was a location: Bellweather Lodge, Vermont.
Adrian looked up.
“Is that where he is?”
“It was the last place mentioned in the transfer papers. I cannot
promise he is still there.”
Outside, Gabriel said, “We should take a team.”
“No large group. If Victor is watching, he’ll know.”
Adrian looked at James’s note.
For five years, he had mourned a brother who might have been waiting for
May you like
someone to find him.
This time, he would not let another report decide what was true.
