Chapter 7 - THE PATIENT WHO REMEMBERED
Grace Miller was alive.
She was living in a small assisted-care home in Connecticut under a different name. The facility had received her through a private medical transfer and had been told that she had no family.
Chloe and Dominic drove there with an attorney and a patient advocate. Dominic did not bring armed guards inside.
Grace was seventy-two, thin, and sharp-eyed. She listened while Chloe explained Margaret's name.
Then she began to cry.
“Your mother tried to help me,” she said. “She found out they were giving us something that made us weaker. She told me to refuse it.”
“What happened?” Chloe asked.
“They moved me before I could speak to anyone. They said my son had abandoned me. I believed them.”
Grace had kept a notebook of her own. It contained dates, medication names, and the names of staff members who had visited her room. One name appeared repeatedly: Victor Sloane.
Another was unfamiliar to Chloe.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
Dominic's attorney wrote it down.
“Do you know where he is now?” she asked.
Grace shook her head. “He came to see me last winter. He said the investigation was over. He said I should forget everything.”
“Did he work for Northstar?”
“He was the doctor who signed the prescriptions.”
Chloe felt anger rise. “Why would he do that?”
Grace looked at her with tired sadness. “Money. Fear. Maybe both. People do terrible things when they believe no one will ever ask them to explain.”
Before they left, Grace took Chloe's hand.
“Your mother was brave. She told me that if anything happened to her, someone would come looking.”
Chloe's eyes filled.
“She was right.”
On the drive back, Dominic remained silent.
Finally, Chloe asked, “What happens now?”
“We find Reed. We get the original medical records. Then the investigators can build a case.”
“And if he disappears?”
“Then we keep looking.”
She watched the road slide past.
“You could have done this years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You could have listened to Margaret.”
“Yes.”
“You could have built a company where nobody was afraid to report something wrong.”
Dominic looked at her. “I know.”
Chloe had expected him to defend himself. His refusal to do so made her more unsettled than an argument would have.
At the estate, Matteo was waiting with a message.
Dr. Reed had contacted the family's legal office. He claimed he had evidence that could clear Victor Sloane, but he would speak only to Dominic.
The meeting was scheduled for the following evening.
Chloe read the message twice.
“He's trying to bargain.”
“Probably,” Dominic said.
“Then don't go alone.”
“I won't.”
“I'm coming.”
Dominic looked at her. “Chloe—”
“My mother's name is on those records. I am not asking permission to hear the truth.”
He studied her, then nodded.
The next evening, Dr. Reed arrived at the estate carrying a leather case. He looked exhausted and frightened.
“I didn't know the full plan,” he said before sitting down. “I only prescribed what the company supplied.”
Chloe placed Margaret's notebook on the table.
“Then explain this.”
Reed opened the case and removed a sealed envelope.
Inside was a copy of an email dated two days before Margaret's first hospitalization.
The sender was Victor Sloane.
The recipient was Dr. Samuel Reed.
May you like
The subject line read:
MAKE SURE HENDERSON STOPS ASKING QUESTIONS.
