Chapter 6 - The Clinic Report Changed the Cause of Death
The Prague clinic still had records.
Sealed.
Restricted.
Thomas used old credentials.
They waited in a conference room.
Lucian did not sit.
Elena stood near the window.
Patrick watched the door.
A doctor entered.
Seventy.
Gray hair.
Nervous.
“Mr. Morel.”
Lucian looked at him.
“You treated my father.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Eleven months.”
“What was his diagnosis?”
The doctor opened the file.
“Cardiomyopathy.”
Lucian frowned.
“Natural?”
“At first.”
Silence.
The doctor continued.
“Then his condition changed.”
“How?”
“Organ stress inconsistent with the original diagnosis.”
Thomas asked:
“Toxin?”
The doctor looked at him.
“We suspected one.”
Lucian’s face hardened.
“Which?”
“Digitalis-related compounds.”
Patrick whispered:
“Poison.”
The doctor nodded.
“Low doses.”
“Over time?”
“Yes.”
Lucian stared.
“Why was this not reported?”
The doctor looked ashamed.
“We tried.”
Thomas asked:
“To whom?”
The doctor hesitated.
Lucian said:
“Name.”
“Robert Kessler.”
Silence.
Thomas closed his eyes.
The doctor continued.
“He presented himself as the patient’s security liaison.”
Lucian laughed softly.
“My father’s killer handled the report.”
The doctor looked down.
Lucian asked:
“Did my father know?”
“Yes.”
Everyone looked at him.
Lucian’s expression changed.
“He knew he was being poisoned.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three months before he died.”
Lucian stared.
“And he stayed.”
The doctor nodded.
“Why?”
The doctor handed him a note.
Written by his father.
IF I RUN AGAIN, LUCIAN STAYS IN THE DARK.
Lucian looked at the handwriting.
His hands shook once.
Then stopped.
Patrick whispered:
“He was trying to draw Kessler out.”
The doctor nodded.
“He asked us to document everything.”
Lucian opened the toxicology report.
Samples.
Dates.
Dosages.
And one name.
Authorized visitor.
Elena Vane.
Again.
Lucian looked at Elena.
She stepped back.
“I never visited him.”
The doctor frowned.
“I met you.”
Silence.
Elena stared.
“No.”
The doctor looked closer.
Then shook his head.
“Not you.”
Lucian’s eyes sharpened.
“What?”
The doctor pulled a security still.
A woman entering the clinic.
Dark hair.
Similar height.
Similar build.
But not Elena.
Elena whispered:
“Who is that?”
Thomas stared.
His face went white.
Lucian noticed.
“You know her.”
Thomas said nothing.
Lucian stepped closer.
“Thomas.”
He whispered:
“My sister.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
Thomas stared at the image.
“Rebecca Vane.”
Elena looked stunned.
“You told me Aunt Rebecca died when I was a child.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“She disappeared.”
Lucian stared.
“Another fake death?”
“No.”
Thomas shook his head.
“She joined Kessler.”
Patrick whispered:
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
Silence.
Thomas continued.
“She believed the agency used people and abandoned them.”
Patrick looked at the security image.
“So she became his operative.”
Thomas nodded.
Lucian looked at Elena.
“Kessler used your aunt to impersonate you.”
Elena stared.
“Why me?”
Thomas answered:
“To make any investigation lead back to our family.”
Lucian looked at the payment trail.
“To Elena.”
“Yes.”
“To Thomas.”
“Yes.”
“To everyone except him.”
The doctor handed Lucian another item.
A small recorder.
“Your father left this here.”
Lucian stared.
“Another tape?”
“Digital.”
Lucian almost smiled.
“Progress.”
The doctor did not understand.
Lucian pressed play.
His father’s voice.
“Rebecca came today.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“She thinks I do not recognize her.”
Lucian looked at Thomas.
His father said:
“She wants me to blame Thomas.”
A cough.
“Kessler wants Lucian to destroy the Vane family before he learns the truth.”
Elena began crying.
Lucian listened.
“If my son hears this.”
A pause.
“Do not punish Elena for what her family did.”
Lucian looked at her.
She looked away.
The recording continued.
“She will make her own mistakes.”
Lucian almost laughed.
Elena covered her face.
His father continued.
“Judge those.”
Silence.
Then.
“Kessler will come for the Continuity Fund before Lucian turns thirty-five.”
Lucian’s eyes sharpened.
“He will need Lucian’s biometric authorization.”
Patrick looked at Lucian.
The voice continued.
“If he cannot get it willingly, he will take it another way.”
The recording ended.
Lucian stared at his hand.
Patrick whispered:
“Biometric.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Fingerprints.”
Elena went pale.
Lucian said:
“Or blood.”
The doctor frowned.
Patrick’s phone buzzed.
A message from security.
Then another.
Patrick read it.
His face changed.
Lucian looked at him.
“What?”
Patrick turned the screen.
A photograph.
Marc Morel.
Tied to a chair.
Alive.
Behind him stood Robert Kessler.
Message:
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