Chapter 12 - THE FIRE THAT CONNECTED OUR FAMILIES
The hospital fire had haunted me for twenty-two years.
I'd remembered smoke.
Sirens.
Gabriel carrying me down the stairs.
But I'd never questioned why the building caught fire.
Now investigators were examining records showing the hospital had been connected to a dispute involving valuable research patents.
My father and William Lancaster had been preparing to report unauthorized access to clinical data.
Three days before the fire, William transferred fifteen million dollars to a protected account controlled by Thomas Bennett.
The money wasn't a bribe.
According to the trust records, it was intended to fund independent legal protection for the research and its participants.
But someone had interpreted the transfer differently.
Someone believed Thomas Bennett had hidden money that belonged to them.
Rachel obtained documents from the original investigation.
The fire had started in an administrative storage room.
Not a laboratory.
Not a patient ward.
A storage room containing paper records.
Many were destroyed.
Others survived only because Gabriel's father had ordered digital backups weeks earlier.
I looked at Gabriel.
"Your father knew someone might try to destroy the evidence."
He nodded slowly.
"Apparently."
"Did he ever tell you?"
"No."
I could see the pain in his face.
For years, he'd believed he understood his father's work.
Now he was discovering entire chapters of his family's history had been concealed.
But he didn't turn away.
He stayed.
We reviewed everything with investigators.
By evening, a name appeared repeatedly in old insurance correspondence.
Vivienne Duval.
Julian's mother.
At the time, she'd served on the hospital's financial advisory board.
She had access to administrative records.
And she'd opposed the Bennett-Lancaster research partnership.
My heart began pounding.
"Vivienne knew about the patents before Julian met me."
Gabriel nodded.
"Yes."
"Then she arranged our introduction."
"That's possible."
I remembered the charity auction.
Vivienne smiling as she introduced her handsome son.
Julian holding my hand.
Telling me he'd never met anyone like me.
I'd thought it was romance.
Now it looked like strategy.
Investigators uncovered another detail.
The hospital's fire alarm system had undergone unauthorized maintenance the morning of the blaze.
The contractor responsible was connected to a security company owned by the Duval family.
My stomach turned.
It wasn't proof Vivienne had ordered the fire.
But it was enough to justify a deeper investigation.
Then Rachel arrived with a recovered witness statement.
A hospital employee had seen someone leaving the administrative wing minutes before the alarm sounded.
The witness described a woman wearing a red coat.
I closed my eyes.
Vivienne always wore red to important events.
But Rachel continued.
"The witness identified the woman in a photograph."
My heart raced.
"Who?"
Rachel placed the statement before me.
The name was unmistakable.
Vivienne Duval.
Then she added one final detail.
"The witness disappeared two weeks after giving the statement."
I looked up.
"Disappeared?"
Rachel nodded.
"Until yesterday."
My breath caught.
"Where is she?"
Rachel's expression changed.
"She's alive. And she says Vivienne didn't act alone."
I swallowed.
"Who helped her?"
May you like
Rachel looked directly at me.
"Julian's father."
