Chapter 6 - The Doctor Who Was Supposed to Be Dead

Dr. Elias Warren was eighty-one.

Thin.

Unsteady.

Alive.

Victor stared at him.

“You died eleven years ago.”

Warren smiled.

“Publicly.”

Damian looked at Theodore.

The archivist shook his head.

“I had no idea.”

Charles stared at the doctor.

“You were in my building.”

“For three years.”

Charles went pale.

Adrian laughed once.

“Of course.”

Damian looked at Warren.

“Did you poison my mother?”

The doctor’s smile disappeared.

“Yes.”

Silence.

Victor moved first.

Damian blocked him.

“No.”

Victor looked at his son.

“He killed her.”

Damian did not move.

“I know.”

Then to Warren:

“Who ordered it?”

Warren looked at Adrian.

Adrian’s face hardened.

Victor saw.

“You.”

Adrian shook his head.

“No.”

Warren looked at Victor.

Then Samuel.

Then Charles.

Finally Damian.

“Neither brother.”

Silence.

Damian frowned.

“Then who?”

Warren looked at Samuel.

The lawyer went white.

“No.”

Warren nodded.

“Yes.”

Everyone turned.

Samuel stepped backward.

Victor whispered:

“You?”

Samuel’s hands shook.

“I did not tell him to kill her.”

Warren smiled sadly.

“You told me she had to be stopped.”

Samuel shook his head.

“I meant sedated.”

“Permanently quiet.”

“No.”

Warren’s voice sharpened.

“You paid me.”

Damian stared at Samuel.

“Why?”

Samuel looked broken.

“Because your mother found the trust documents.”

“What trust documents?”

Samuel looked at Charles.

Then Damian.

“Your grandfather’s.”

Damian frowned.

Victor whispered:

“My father?”

Samuel nodded.

“The original Vale trust.”

Adrian’s face changed.

Damian saw it.

“What was in it?”

Samuel answered:

“Victor was never supposed to control the family after your grandfather died.”

Victor stared.

“What?”

Samuel looked at Adrian.

“Neither was Adrian.”

Damian felt cold.

“Who was?”

Samuel looked at him.

“You.”

Silence.

Damian stopped breathing.

“At twenty-one.”

Samuel nodded.

“Your grandfather amended the trust.”

Victor sat down slowly.

“I never knew.”

“No.”

Adrian stared at Samuel.

“You told me the amendment was invalid.”

Samuel looked at him.

“I lied.”

Adrian stepped forward.

“Why?”

Samuel’s face twisted.

“Because I had spent years helping both of you build companies around assets that legally belonged to Damian.”

Damian stared.

Victor looked sick.

Samuel continued.

“Your mother found the amendment.”

“And she was going to tell me.”

“Yes.”

“You stopped her.”

Samuel closed his eyes.

“I panicked.”

Warren said:

“He paid me to keep her unconscious long enough to recover the documents.”

Damian looked at him.

“But she died.”

Warren nodded.

“The dose was wrong.”

Victor lunged.

Agents entered from outside.

They grabbed him.

He shouted.

Warren flinched.

Damian did not move.

Samuel began crying.

“I never meant—”

Damian looked at him.

“Stop.”

Samuel went silent.

Damian continued.

“You do not get to make intent the center of this.”

Samuel lowered his head.

Adrian looked toward the hallway.

Bianca stood.

She moved beside Damian.

Charles did too.

Victor stopped struggling.

He looked at Samuel.

“You let me blame Adrian.”

Samuel whispered:

“Yes.”

Adrian laughed bitterly.

“And me blame him.”

“Yes.”

Victor stared.

“For sixteen years.”

Samuel nodded.

Damian looked at Warren.

“Why fake your death?”

The doctor answered:

“Samuel arranged it.”

Damian looked at the lawyer.

“Why keep him alive?”

Samuel swallowed.

“Insurance.”

Victor laughed.

The sound was broken.

“Everyone had insurance.”

Charles looked away.

Warren continued.

“Then Charles found me.”

Charles stared.

“When?”

“Three years ago.”

Charles went pale.

Warren smiled faintly.

“You thought I was a records clerk.”

Theodore looked at him.

“You were the man in the basement.”

“Yes.”

Damian turned toward Charles.

“You employed the doctor who killed my mother.”

Charles looked horrified.

“I did not know.”

Warren nodded.

“He did not.”

For once, Charles was telling the truth.

Damian looked at Samuel.

The lawyer appeared smaller.

“What happened to the trust amendment?”

Samuel looked toward the archive safe.

“Here.”

Charles entered the code.

The safe opened.

Inside were several folders.

Samuel pointed.

Blue file.

Damian removed it.

VALE FAMILY TRUST — AMENDMENT.

Signed by his grandfather.

Notarized.

Valid.

Damian read the clause.

At age twenty-one, controlling interest passed to Damian Vale.

He looked up.

“I was twenty when my father disappeared.”

Victor nodded slowly.

Damian continued.

“One year later, this should have become mine.”

“Yes.”

“And Samuel knew.”

“Yes.”

Damian looked at Adrian.

His uncle’s face had changed.

Not guilt.

Calculation.

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Then Bianca screamed.

Adrian had grabbed a pistol from Charles’s coat.