Chapter 17 - The Doctor's DeclarationDr. Adrian Kessler lasted twenty-three minutes under questioning once Detective Chen showed him the records from the service void.
His attorney requested a break.
Then another.
By afternoon Kessler withdrew his medical declaration.
He also admitted Martin had paid him.
Not to poison anyone, he insisted.
To monitor them.
Kessler claimed Claire had described the plan as a “controlled exposure demonstration” intended to force Mercer to acknowledge Halcyon.
He knew it was unethical.
He knew it was illegal.
He claimed he believed no one would suffer lasting harm.
Ethan listened from behind a conference-room window.
“That sentence should be printed on prison walls,” he said.
Nora stood beside him.
“He's cooperating.”
“For himself.”
“That is usually why people cooperate.”
Kessler confirmed something else.
Claire had ordered the exposure stopped after Lily's first serious episode.
Martin overruled her.
Kessler continued providing the counteragent because he was afraid.
Then Martin replaced him with another contractor for part of the program.
“Who?” Ethan asked.
Chen shook her head.
“Still identifying.”
“Is my family safe?”
“Doctors believe further exposure has stopped.”
“Believe?”
“Your house, office and all suspected consumables are being controlled.”
Nora added, “Lily's levels are declining.”
That mattered more than everything else.
Ethan visited her.
Lily sat in bed building a cardboard castle.
“Is Claire coming?”
“No.”
“Did you fight?”
“Yes.”
“Big fight?”
“The biggest.”
Lily considered that.
“Because of the drops?”
Ethan sat beside her.
“Partly.”
“Was she trying to make me sick?”
He hated the question.
Children deserved simple villains.
Reality rarely provided them.
“She gave you something she should never have given you without telling me.”
“Why?”
“She was angry at our family.”
“At me?”
“No.”
“Then why me?”
Ethan had no answer good enough for a nine-year-old.
“Adults sometimes do terrible things because they're focused so much on their own pain that they stop seeing who else they're hurting.”
Lily stared at the castle.
“That's stupid.”
“Yes.”
“Are you still marrying her?”
“No.”
Lily nodded.
After a moment she handed him a cardboard flag.
“You can do the tower.”
Ethan nearly cried.
That evening Claire requested to speak with him.
Her attorney was present.
Ethan almost refused.
Then he went.
Claire stood beside a hospital window.
“You told Lily.”
“Enough.”
“How is she?”
“Better.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Thank God.”
“Don't ask me to make you feel better.”
“I wasn't.”
“You keep looking at me like you want something.”
“I want a lot of things I don't deserve.”
Her attorney shifted uncomfortably.
Claire reached into her bag and removed a key.
“I have something else.”
Ethan did not take it.
“What?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Manhattan.”
“What is in it?”
“Copies of my communications with Martin.”
Chen, watching from the doorway, stepped closer.
Claire continued.
“I saved them because I didn't trust him.”
“Then why didn't you give them to police immediately?”
“Because they also prove what I did.”
Ethan laughed.
“There it is.”
“Yes.”
Claire put the key on the table.
“I am giving them now.”
Her attorney said, “Against my advice.”
Claire nodded.
“They include messages from before I met Martin. Notes about why I came to the foundation gala. What I planned.”
Ethan stared at the key.
“You planned to use me.”
“At first, I planned to get close enough to access your father's records.”
“And then?”
“I fell in love with you.”
“Stop saying that like it's a defense.”
“It isn't.”
“Then why keep saying it?”
Claire's eyes filled.
“Because it is the worst part.”
Ethan looked away.
“What does that mean?”
“It would be easier if I never loved you.”
He said nothing.
Claire continued.
“If I had hated you, Lily would have been an abstraction. Your mother would have been Richard's wife. Noah would have been another Mercer.”
Her voice broke.
“But you became people.”
“And you kept going.”
“Yes.”
“That's the worst part.”
“Yes.”
Ethan hated that she agreed.
He turned toward the door.
Claire spoke again.
“Martin has one final move.”
Ethan stopped.
“What?”
“He kept asking me about your personal signature.”
“My signature?”
“Not electronic.”
Ethan turned.
“He wanted samples.”
“For forgery.”
“I refused.”
“Did he get them anyway?”
“I don't know.”
Nora called Ethan at that exact moment.
He answered.
Her voice was tight.
“Board meeting tomorrow morning. Martin's presenting documents claiming you personally authorized the current Halcyon exposure research.”
“Handwritten?”
“Signed in ink.”
Ethan looked at Claire.
She closed her eyes.
Nora continued.
“If the board believes them, you're not just medically compromised.”
May you like
“What am I?”
“Criminally implicated.”
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