Chapter 2 - The Second Bottle
Vincent Hale had always frightened people without trying.
He was forty-one, broad-shouldered, disciplined and so calm that even his anger appeared controlled. For eleven years he had been responsible for keeping Alexander Romano alive.
Which made the bottle in his hand impossible to understand.
Eleanor moved closer to me.
“What have you done?” she asked.
Vincent frowned.
“Nothing.”
“You just said she wasn’t supposed to notice.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“Then explain it.”
He looked toward the hallway.
“I locked the door because whoever switched those pills may already know Clara discovered them.”
My fear shifted.
Not disappeared.
Shifted.
“Where did you get that bottle?” I demanded.
“Kitchen service corridor.”
“When?”
“Six minutes ago.”
He crossed the room slowly.
I backed toward Alexander.
“Don’t come closer.”
Vincent stopped.
His expression remained unreadable.
“Clara, if I intended to hurt him, standing six feet away instead of four isn’t going to save anybody.”
“Comforting.”
To my surprise, one corner of his mouth almost moved.
Then he placed the second bottle on a table.
“I found this inside a linen cart.”
Eleanor stared at it.
“Who left it there?”
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
I compared the labels.
Both listed Alexander’s name.
Both came from the same pharmacy.
But the serial numbers were different.
Vincent reached into his coat and placed something beside them.
A small plastic evidence pouch.
Inside was a torn pharmacy seal.
“I found that under the cart.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
My anger came fast.
“And you didn’t tell us?”
“I needed to know who else knew.”
“Alexander could die while you conduct an investigation.”
Something flickered across Vincent’s face.
Guilt.
That frightened me more than his calmness.
“I know.”
I went to the bed.
Alexander’s breathing remained shallow.
“We need a hospital.”
Vincent shook his head.
“No.”
I spun toward him.
“Excuse me?”
“The roads are flooded. More importantly, the estate’s emergency transport route was blocked before midnight.”
“Blocked how?”
“A fallen tree.”
“That’s convenient.”
“Yes.”
The way he said it told me he had reached the same conclusion.
Eleanor sank into a chair.
“Someone planned this.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Yes.”
I picked up my phone.
“Then we call an ambulance.”
“No signal.”
“I have Wi-Fi.”
“Not anymore.”
I checked.
Nothing.
My blood went cold.
The storm had become an accomplice.
Vincent crossed toward a cabinet containing an old landline.
He lifted the receiver.
Dead.
“That line was cut from inside the house,” he said.
Eleanor stared at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because outside lines run underground.”
Silence.
There were thirty-two people inside the Romano estate that night.
Security guards.
Kitchen staff.
Housekeepers.
Two visiting executives.
Dr. Keller.
Alexander’s uncle, Sebastian Romano.
And Sebastian’s attorney.
Any one of them could have walked through the service corridor.
Any one could have touched the medicine.
“What do we do?” Eleanor whispered.
I looked at Alexander.
“We stop giving him everything from that bottle.”
Vincent nodded.
“Agreed.”
“We need to know exactly what he was supposed to receive.”
“Dr. Keller has the medical kit.”
“Then bring him here.”
Vincent hesitated.
“What?”
“We can’t assume Keller is innocent.”
My stomach tightened.
Dr. Nathan Keller had been Alexander’s physician for nine years.
“He prescribed the medication.”
“Exactly.”
That possibility made me sick.
Eleanor shook her head.
“Nathan would never—”
“You don’t know that,” Vincent said.
“He delivered Alexander’s medication himself.”
I looked at him sharply.
“What?”
“At nine twenty last night.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because I was downstairs at nine twenty.”
“So?”
“I answered the door when the pharmacy courier arrived.”
Vincent went still.
“What courier?”
“The young man from Bellmore Private Pharmacy.”
Vincent stared at me.
“Dr. Keller told me he brought the medicine from the pharmacy personally.”
We all looked at the two bottles.
Two stories.
Two deliveries.
Two sets of pills.
Only one could be real.
Alexander groaned.
I rushed to him.
His hand twitched beneath the blanket.
“Alexander?”
His lips moved.
I leaned close.
Nothing.
Then again.
A sound.
“Water?”
I touched his cheek.
“Alexander, can you hear me?”
His eyelids moved but did not open.
Vincent came closer.
I almost told him to stop.
Then Alexander whispered one word.
“Ledger.”
I frowned.
“What?”
His breathing grew uneven.
“Blue…”
“Blue what?”
“Ledger.”
Then he slipped deeper into unconsciousness.
Vincent and Eleanor exchanged a look.
I straightened.
“What blue ledger?”
Eleanor whispered, “I haven’t seen it in years.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You know what he means?”
She nodded slowly.
“Alexander’s father kept a private financial ledger.”
“Where?”
“Nobody knew.”
“Why would Alexander mention it now?”
Eleanor stared at him.
“Because his father died after becoming sick very suddenly.”
The room seemed to lose all its warmth.
I looked down at Alexander.
“How?”
Eleanor’s voice fell almost to nothing.
“Officially?”
“Yes.”
“Heart failure.”
“And unofficially?”
She looked at the medicine bottles.
“Nobody ever knew.”
Vincent swore quietly.
I understood then why Alexander had fought through fever to say two words.
Blue ledger.
Maybe it wasn’t simply financial.
Maybe whatever was happening to him had happened before.
“To his father?” I asked.
Eleanor nodded.
“Seventeen years ago.”
Before anyone could respond, three hard knocks struck the bedroom door.
Vincent drew a pistol from beneath his coat.
I froze.
A man spoke from the hallway.
“Vincent?”
Dr. Keller.
“I need to examine Alexander.”
Vincent did not move.
Another knock.
“Open the door.”
Silence.
Then Dr. Keller said something that made every person in the room look at the medicine bottles.
May you like
“I also need to give him his next dose.”
---
