Chapter 13 - The Meeting That Never Happened|
Claire had received the message at 6:30 p.m., just as she was preparing to leave for the hospital.
She had intended to ignore it.
Her surgery had already been delayed twice, and Dr. Hale had made it clear that another postponement could be dangerous. But the message included a detail that only someone familiar with the original medical records could have known.
The original transfer request was not in the official hospital archive.
It was hidden in a private foundation file.
Claire believed the person who contacted her might finally have the evidence needed to establish what happened to Rose Mercer.
She went to the hotel.
She never met Charles Whitmore.
Instead, she felt dizzy in the elevator and collapsed before reaching the lobby.
Now, from her hospital bed, Claire watched Nathan read the note.
“Did you bring the transfer request?”
“No. I had only a copy.”
“Where is it?”
“With Evelyn.”
Claire nodded.
“Good.”
Nathan hesitated.
“Why would Charles arrange the meeting?”
“To recover the evidence. Or to see how much I knew.”
“Did he know about your condition?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan looked stricken.
“You were going to have surgery that night.”
“Yes.”
“And I went to the gala with Vanessa.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears, but her voice remained steady.
“I did not expect you to save me, Nathan. I expected you to notice that something was wrong.”
He closed his eyes.
“I should have.”
“Yes.”
There was no comfort in the agreement.
Nathan left the hospital after their conversation and drove directly to Charles Whitmore's office.
Charles received him with a composed smile.
“Nathan. I wondered when you would visit.”
Nathan placed the note on the desk.
“Why did you summon my wife?”
Charles glanced at the paper.
“I did no such thing.”
“The message came from your office.”
“Then someone used my name.”
“Who?”
Charles leaned back.
“You seem to believe that because your marriage is in trouble, everyone around you is responsible.”
Nathan remained still.
“My wife nearly died. Someone has been watching her, threatening her, and stealing her evidence. Margaret Ellis has disappeared. Your company is connected to the medical foundation, and Martin Sloan has admitted that he helped conceal payments.”
Charles's expression hardened.
“Martin is a desperate man. He will say anything to protect himself.”
“Then you won't mind answering a few questions for the investigators.”
Charles smiled coldly.
“You are not going to bring investigators into my office.”
“Watch me.”
Nathan turned toward the door.
Charles's voice followed him.
“Your father was not the man you think he was.”
Nathan stopped.
“Tell me something I don't know.”
“Daniel made a choice. He believed that protecting his company would protect his family. He was wrong.”
“Did you order the cancellation?”
Charles's silence lasted a fraction too long.
Nathan turned around.
“You did.”
“I signed a document. I did not make the call.”
“Who did?”
Charles's eyes shifted toward a framed photograph on the wall.
It showed his family at a charity event many years earlier. Vanessa stood beside him, smiling in a white dress.
Nathan followed his gaze.
“Your daughter?”
Charles stood abruptly.
“Vanessa was a child.”
“Then why are you afraid of what she remembers?”
Charles's face lost color.
For a moment, he looked older than Nathan had ever seen him.
“Because she remembers more than she understands.”
Nathan left the office and contacted Lucas.
“Find Vanessa. Do not let her father reach her first.”
Lucas answered immediately.
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“Vanessa left her apartment an hour ago. Her phone is off, and her car was found near the airport.”
Nathan felt a chill.
“Was she alone?”
“We don't know.”
A message arrived from Vanessa's number seconds later.
I need to tell you what happened to your mother. Meet me at the old Mercer estate. Come alone.
Nathan stared at the message.
It might have been a trap.
It might have been the first honest thing Vanessa had ever offered him.
He sent the location to Lucas and Samuel, then drove toward the estate.
When he entered the old piano room, Vanessa was standing beside the window.
Her eyes were red.
“You came,” she whispered.
“Tell me the truth.”
She looked at him.
“I was eight years old when my father took me to the hospital. I signed a form because he told me it was harmless.”
“What happened afterward?”
Vanessa's lips trembled.
“I remember a woman arguing with him. I remember my father saying that Rose Mercer would never leave that hospital.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Who was the woman?”
Vanessa began to cry.
“It was Evelyn Brooks.”
Then she reached into her handbag and placed a small recorder on the piano.
“But Evelyn wasn't the person who gave the final order.”
She pressed play.
A familiar voice filled the room.
May you like
Daniel Mercer.
“Do it. If Rose survives, all of us go to prison.”
