Chapter 18 - The Treatment Question|
Gabriel read the note again.
He did not want to believe it.
The possibility that someone had interfered with Anna's treatment was more frightening than any threat Peter had made. It meant that the people who had collected her records might have gone beyond privacy violations and financial manipulation.
It meant that the one place Anna should have been able to trust—the place where trained professionals cared for her—might have been compromised.
But a note was not proof.
Gabriel remembered what Anna had told him: she wanted qualified people to review the evidence, not frightened relatives making decisions based on suspicion.
He placed the note in a clear sleeve and called Dr. Reed.
Within an hour, the cancer center's medical director had arranged an independent review of Anna's treatment records. The hospital's pharmacy department checked the medication logs, the nursing records, and the lot numbers associated with every dose.
Anna insisted on attending the review herself.
“I want to hear the findings directly,” she said.
Gabriel agreed.
They sat in a consultation room with Dr. Reed, the medical director, and an independent pharmacist. The team explained that the medication administered to Anna matched the prescribed treatment. The doses, timing, and documented adjustments were consistent with the medical plan.
There was no evidence that anyone had substituted a different medication.
The note, however, had been placed in Anna's room after she returned from treatment. Its wording was deliberately vague, and the signature could not yet be authenticated.
Anna let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for days.
“So my treatment wasn't changed?”
“Based on the records we've reviewed, there is no evidence that it was,” the medical director replied. “We'll continue the audit and notify you if we discover anything new.”
Anna nodded.
“Thank you.”
When the meeting ended, Gabriel walked beside her through the hospital corridor.
She looked exhausted.
“I hate that someone can frighten me with a piece of paper,” she said.
“Anyone would be frightened.”
“I keep wondering what else is true. Every time we find an answer, another question appears.”
Gabriel stopped beside a window.
“Then we'll separate what we know from what we fear. We'll let the doctors handle the medical questions and the investigators handle the rest.”
She looked at him.
“That sounds reasonable.”
“I'm trying.”
“I can tell.”
For a few moments, they watched the rain slide down the glass.
Then Anna asked, “Do you think your father would be disappointed in you?”
The question caught him off guard.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because you keep talking about the things he did wrong. You seem afraid that you'll repeat them.”
Gabriel looked down.
“I think he would be disappointed that I let the same mistakes continue.”
“Maybe. But he might also be proud that you're trying to change them.”
He considered her words.
“I don't know how to stop being afraid that everything will fall apart if I stop controlling it.”
Anna took his hand.
“You don't have to stop caring. You have to stop believing that caring gives you the right to control everyone.”
He smiled faintly.
“You should be a therapist.”
“I have enough appointments.”
They laughed together.
That evening, the investigators located Dr. Martin Shaw at a small apartment in Wisconsin. He had received the same note that Anna found, but he denied writing it. His signature appeared to have been copied from an old medical report.
Shaw agreed to cooperate.
He confirmed that Peter Lang had contacted him several times before disappearing. Peter had asked questions about Anna's treatment schedule, but Shaw had refused to provide information without her consent.
He had also received a warning from someone claiming that the Moretti family was concealing a medical error.
“I wanted to alert Anna,” Shaw explained, “but I didn't know whether the warning was genuine. I should have contacted the hospital directly.”
The investigators traced the note to a printer used by Northstar Medical Services. The company had provided administrative support to several private clinics, including the center where Anna was treated.
Its director admitted that Peter had paid an employee to obtain copies of appointment schedules and internal correspondence. The employee had not altered medical orders, but he had created the false note to frighten Anna and pressure Gabriel into signing the trust amendment.
The employee was charged with unauthorized access and fraud.
Peter, meanwhile, was located in a rented house outside Milwaukee.
He had been preparing to leave the country.
Police arrested him without incident.
When Gabriel received the call, he sat quietly for several minutes.
He had expected to feel triumph.
Instead, he felt tired.
The investigation had uncovered wrongdoing, but it had also revealed how easily his family had allowed fear to become an excuse for cruelty.
He returned to Anna's room and found her sitting by the window with a blanket over her shoulders.
“Peter has been arrested,” he told her. “The note was false. There's no evidence that your medication was changed.”
Anna closed her eyes in relief.
“Thank God.”
He sat beside her.
“I wish I could promise that nothing else will happen.”
She opened her eyes.
“Don't.”
He nodded.
“Then I'll promise something else. I won't hide what I learn from you, and I won't ask you to carry my fear for me.”
Anna rested her head against his shoulder.
“That's enough for today.”
They sat together until the evening light faded.
For the first time in months, the next day did not feel like a threat waiting to be discovered.
May you like
It was simply another day.
And that was more than enough.
