Chapter 6 - THE DOCTOR WHO LIED
Detective Ruiz did not lower her hand.
“Sit down, Doctor.”
Samuel Hayes obeyed.
Ethan stood across from him.
Lily was taken into the adjoining room with Margaret.
Ethan did not want her hearing another adult explain why everyone around her had lied.
Hayes looked older than he had an hour earlier.
“I should have told you years ago.”
Ethan’s laugh held no humor.
“You think?”
“I believed telling you would kill her.”
“You let me bury my wife.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury my daughter.”
“I did not know Lily was alive.”
Ethan slammed both hands onto the table.
Ruiz stepped forward.
Hayes did not flinch.
“I knew Amelia survived the first night.”
“How?”
“I was at the hospital.”
“You told me you arrived after the evacuation.”
“That was a lie.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor saw me.”
Hayes removed his glasses.
“Amelia had called me that morning.”
“She told me she believed someone was tampering with her records.”
“She was afraid the delivery might be manipulated.”
“So I came.”
“When the fire started, I was one floor below maternity.”
“Smoke filled the corridor.”
“Sprinklers failed.”
“Exit alarms were disabled.”
Ethan said nothing.
Hayes continued.
“I reached Amelia’s room after the nurse had already taken Lily.”
“Amelia was unconscious.”
“She had burns along her temple and shoulder.”
“I carried her into a surgical stairwell.”
“Then two men appeared.”
“Victor’s men?”
“Yes.”
“One recognized me.”
“They told me they were moving Amelia to a secure treatment location.”
“I knew immediately something was wrong.”
“And you handed her over?”
“I had a choice between fighting two armed men in a smoke-filled hospital or staying close enough to learn where they took her.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“So you chose yourself.”
Hayes looked at him.
“I chose the option I believed might keep her alive.”
“Did it?”
“Yes.”
The answer stopped Ethan.
Hayes continued.
“They took her to a private burn clinic.”
“I followed.”
“Victor arrived before dawn.”
“He told me Amelia had discovered confidential corporate information and was mentally unstable.”
“He offered me money.”
“Did you take it?”
“Yes.”
Ethan stared.
Hayes did not look away.
“I took every payment.”
“Because as long as Victor believed I was compromised, I could keep access to Amelia.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“You expect us to believe you spent seven years pretending to be corrupt?”
“Not pretending.”
Hayes’s voice was tired.
“I falsified records.”
“I lied to Ethan.”
“I certified a death I knew was false.”
“I accepted illegal payments.”
“Whatever my reason, those are crimes.”
Ethan’s anger sharpened.
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“Because Harold Crane owned the investigating officer assigned to the fire.”
Ruiz’s expression changed.
“Who?”
“Deputy Commissioner Robert Hale.”
She went still.
Hale had been one of the most respected law enforcement officials in the state before retiring three years earlier.
Hayes continued.
“The first detective who questioned the fire was removed after forty-eight hours.”
“Another took over.”
“Evidence disappeared.”
“Security footage vanished.”
“An autopsy report appeared for Amelia even though there was no identifiable body.”
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“And you signed it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Victor showed me a photograph of you sleeping at the lake house.”
“That was before the second fire.”
Hayes looked at Ethan.
“He said if I contradicted the official story, you would die next.”
Ethan remembered Amelia’s video.
She had suspected Hayes before the fire.
Yet Hayes claimed he later became her protector.
“How long did you see her?”
“On and off for four years.”
“Then Victor moved her.”
“Why?”
“She stopped cooperating.”
“What did he want?”
“The trust evidence.”
“The original amendment.”
“The encryption key.”
“Anything Amelia knew.”
“Did she tell you where it was?”
“No.”
Hayes almost smiled.
“She became very good at lying.”
Ethan thought of Lily saying Amelia would pretend to forget.
“Why did Victor keep her alive after four years?”
“Because Amelia convinced him the original trust amendment would automatically be released if she died.”
Margaret reentered.
“Was that true?”
Hayes shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan looked at the unlocked files.
“She was bluffing.”
“Probably.”
“Then she stayed alive because Victor believed her.”
“Yes.”
A strange pride moved through Ethan’s grief.
Amelia had survived through intelligence.
Patience.
Defiance.
She had manipulated the man holding her prisoner.
Then Ethan remembered the live feed.
“Where did they move her last night?”
Hayes shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“You were Victor’s doctor.”
“Not for the last three years.”
“Why?”
“Victor discovered I had changed Amelia’s medication.”
Ruiz narrowed her eyes.
“How?”
“He ordered high-dose sedatives.”
“I reduced them whenever I could.”
“He suspected me.”
“So he replaced me.”
“With whom?”
Hayes hesitated.
“Dr. Adrian Cole.”
Ruiz typed the name.
“Private anesthesiologist.”
“License suspended once.”
“Reinstated.”
Hayes nodded.
“He will do anything for money.”
Ethan looked toward the door where Lily waited.
“Can Amelia survive being moved?”
“If the feed was real and current, yes.”
“But she appeared malnourished.”
“Long-term sedation can cause serious complications.”
“Then we find her today.”
Ruiz’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She turned away.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Secure the scene.”
She ended the call.
“Marcus Reed is alive.”
Ethan stared.
“Where?”
“Firefighters found him in a drainage culvert below the lake property.”
“He has a gunshot wound.”
“Is he conscious?”
“Barely.”
“His first words were your name.”
Twenty minutes later, Marcus lay inside a trauma room at a county hospital.
Ethan stood beside the bed.
A police officer remained near the door.
Marcus’s shoulder was bandaged.
His face was gray.
“You saved Lily.”
Marcus opened his eyes.
“Not enough.”
“Where is your son?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Victor sent me coordinates.”
“Before the attack.”
“Where?”
He gave Ethan a location.
Ruiz checked it.
An industrial warehouse near the river.
“Trap?”
Marcus nodded faintly.
“Probably.”
“Anything else?”
Marcus’s eyes struggled to focus.
“Crane.”
“What about him?”
“He’s not running.”
“Victor is.”
Ethan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Victor thinks he’s in charge.”
Marcus coughed.
“He isn’t.”
“Harold planned this before Victor ever knew about the trust.”
“Why?”
Marcus’s voice dropped.
“Your father.”
Ethan went still.
“My father died of cancer.”
Marcus shook his head weakly.
“No.”
Ethan stared at him.
Marcus whispered.
“Your father found the theft first.”
“He threatened Crane.”
“Three months later, he was dead.”
Hayes, standing behind Ethan, looked stunned.
Marcus continued.
“Victor helped cover it up.”
“But Crane gave the order.”
Ethan’s world shifted again.
His father’s death had been sixteen years ago.
He had watched him waste away in a private medical suite.
Cancer.
That was what every doctor said.
That was what Hayes had said.
Ethan turned slowly toward him.
Hayes looked horrified.
“I treated him only during the final month.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Marcus tried to lift his hand.
Ethan leaned closer.
“There’s a ledger.”
“Where?”
“Crane keeps it.”
“Everything.”
“Your father.”
“The hospital.”
“Payments.”
“Names.”
“Where is it?”
Marcus struggled for breath.
Then his eyes opened sharply.
“Don’t go to the warehouse.”
“Why?”
Marcus grabbed Ethan’s sleeve.
“Victor wants you there.”
“And while you’re chasing him…”
May you like
His voice weakened.
“…Crane is taking Amelia out of the country.”
