Chapter 6 - His Brother's KeyEthan found Noah in the hospital cafeteria at two in the morning.
His brother sat beneath fluorescent lights with an untouched coffee and his head in his hands.
Ethan stopped several feet away.
Noah looked up.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Mom texted.”
“She finally fell asleep.”
“How is she?”
“Doctors say stable. They're running tests.”
Ethan sat opposite him.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Ethan said, “Why did you go to Dr. Kessler's office?”
Noah's face emptied.
That was answer enough.
“When?”
“Don't.”
“Yesterday?”
Noah looked toward the hallway.
“Lower your voice.”
“What did you take?”
“Nothing.”
“Security footage says you used your executive credential.”
“Then security footage says I went inside.”
“Why?”
Noah stared at his coffee.
“I was looking for something.”
“What?”
“You first.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“This isn't a game.”
“No, it's the family tradition. Everybody knows half the truth and punishes everyone else for not knowing the other half.”
“My daughter may have been poisoned.”
Noah looked up sharply.
The color drained from his face.
“What?”
Ethan watched him.
Not the words.
The reaction.
If Noah was acting, he deserved an Oscar.
“Lily has an abnormal substance in her blood.”
“No.”
“Mom may have it too.”
Noah stood so suddenly his chair scraped backward.
“No.”
“Sit down.”
“Claire said the supplements were safe.”
Ethan froze.
“What did you just say?”
Noah covered his mouth.
Ethan stood.
“You knew about the supplements.”
“I approved the program.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire came to me after Mom's second dizzy spell two months ago. She said Kessler had a private wellness protocol.”
“You approved eight hundred thousand dollars?”
Noah stared.
“What?”
“Cedar Vale.”
“I approved seventy-five thousand.”
“Three authorizations.”
“Yes. Twenty-five each.”
“There's eight hundred forty thousand gone.”
Noah's anger vanished.
“That's impossible.”
“No. It's accounting.”
“Who approved the rest?”
“That's what we're trying to learn.”
“We?”
Ethan ignored the question.
“Why Kessler's office?”
Noah sat again.
“Claire asked me for a copy of the wellness agreement three days ago.”
“Why?”
“She said she couldn't find hers.”
“And?”
“I opened the digital file.”
Noah rubbed his hands together.
“The signature wasn't mine.”
Ethan stared.
“Your approval?”
“My name. My credential. Not my signature.”
“So you went looking.”
“I didn't want to accuse Claire.”
“Why not?”
“Because you're marrying her.”
“That didn't stop you from breaking into a doctor's office.”
“It wasn't breaking in. Mercer paid for the suite. My badge worked.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing. It had already been cleaned out.”
Ethan sat back.
Noah looked furious now.
“You knew Claire's father worked for Mercer?”
Noah blinked.
“What?”
“Samuel Whitmore.”
“No.”
“Martin worked with him.”
Noah stared.
“You think Martin is involved?”
Ethan said nothing.
Noah laughed bitterly.
“Right. Still don't trust me.”
“I don't know who to trust.”
“Join the club.”
A nurse approached and told them Evelyn was awake.
They found their mother sitting upright in bed, irritated by the monitor attached to her finger.
“I hate hospitals.”
“So does everyone,” Noah said.
“I hate them more.”
Ethan sat beside her.
“Mom, do you remember Samuel Whitmore?”
Evelyn's eyes shifted.
Barely.
But Ethan saw it.
Noah saw it too.
“Who?” she asked.
Ethan felt something sink inside him.
“Claire's father.”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
Noah whispered, “Oh, come on.”
“Mom.”
“I am tired.”
“Did you know?”
She closed her eyes.
“I knew the name.”
“How?”
“Your father mentioned him.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Evelyn opened her eyes.
“I knew who Claire was before you proposed.”
Ethan stood.
Noah swore under his breath.
“When?”
“The foundation gala last spring.”
“You met Claire six months before that.”
“I didn't recognize her until I saw her full name on the donor list.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I hoped I was wrong.”
“About what?”
Evelyn turned toward Noah.
“Leave.”
“No.”
“This doesn't concern you.”
“It apparently concerns anybody drinking water in our house.”
Evelyn flinched.
Ethan looked at Noah.
“Stay.”
Their mother gave a humorless laugh.
“Your father would have hated this.”
“He's dead,” Ethan said. “He doesn't get a vote.”
Evelyn's face tightened.
Then she spoke.
“Samuel Whitmore accused Mercer Therapeutics of covering up a laboratory exposure in 1999.”
“I found the memo.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
“Clearly.”
“He said Richard altered safety records.”
“Did he?”
Evelyn looked at her sons.
“I don't know everything.”
“Tell me what you do know.”
Before she could answer, Ethan's phone rang.
Dr. Patel.
He answered.
“We have the expanded toxicology results,” she said.
Ethan looked at his mother.
“And?”
“Your daughter's sample and your mother's sample contain the same abnormal marker.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Dr. Patel continued.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“The laboratory matched the molecular signature to an archived occupational exposure study.”
“The Halcyon Program.”
Silence.
“How do you know that name?”
“Because my father buried it.”
Dr. Patel inhaled.
“Then you need to understand something. The symptoms we're seeing aren't random.”
Ethan gripped the phone.
“What are they?”
“Repeated exposure.”
He looked toward Noah.
“How repeated?”
“Enough that this did not begin this week.”
Ethan's eyes moved to his mother.
Then to the water pitcher on her hospital tray.
“Doctor,” he said quietly, “how long?”
May you like
Her answer was worse than anything he expected.
“Based on Lily's results, possibly months.”
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