Chapter 5 - THE DOOR MARKED SEVENTEEN
Room 17.
I hadn't heard those words in eight years.
Yet the moment Detective Mitchell said them, an image appeared in my mind.
A narrow hallway.
A steel door.
A small red light above the handle.
Room 17 was located behind the training center's medical offices.
Marcus Vale had always told us it was used for equipment storage.
But nobody was allowed inside.
Not fighters.
Not coaches.
Not even the cleaning staff.
“Do you remember that room?” Mitchell asked.
I nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“What happened there?”
“I don't know. Marcus kept it locked.”
Mitchell showed me a blueprint of the old facility.
Room 17 wasn't listed as a storage room.
It was labeled:
Private Medical Testing Suite.
My stomach tightened.
“Testing?”
Mitchell nodded.
“The facility's former medical director has recently agreed to cooperate.”
I stared at him.
“Who?”
“Dr. Helen Brooks.”
I remembered her.
She had been kind to the fighters.
Quiet.
Always nervous around Marcus.
She'd resigned shortly after Samantha died.
Mitchell opened another document.
“Dr. Brooks claims Marcus pressured medical staff to administer experimental performance-enhancing treatments without proper informed consent.”
My hands began trembling.
“Samantha?”
“She believes Samantha may have been one of the athletes affected.”
I closed my eyes.
The dizziness.
The trembling hands.
The strange exhaustion.
Samantha hadn't been weak.
She'd been sick.
And someone had forced her back into training.
I felt anger rise through my grief.
“Why did Dr. Brooks stay silent?”
Mitchell looked grim.
“She claims Marcus threatened her medical license and her family.”
I stared at the table.
Another person silenced.
Another life destroyed.
Then Ryan asked the question I hadn't considered.
“What does my brother have to do with medical testing?”
Mitchell hesitated.
“Derek's supplement company supplied products to the facility.”
My stomach dropped.
“So he knew?”
“We're investigating his knowledge and involvement.”
I swallowed.
Then Mitchell showed us a photograph.
Samantha standing beside a young man.
He looked about twenty.
Dark hair.
Blue eyes.
A familiar smile.
I recognized him instantly.
“That's her brother.”
Mitchell nodded.
“His name is Daniel Reed.”
I stared at the photograph.
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared several months after Samantha's death.”
My heart tightened.
“Disappeared?”
“His family reported him missing. The case remained unresolved.”
I covered my mouth.
Daniel had been Samantha's entire world.
She'd raised him after their parents died.
He'd been at nearly every one of our fights.
And after her death, he'd vanished too.
Then Mitchell opened a recently recovered email.
It had been sent from Daniel's account three days before he disappeared.
The subject line read:
I know what happened to Samantha.
May you like
The message contained one sentence.
“If Evelyn Carter ever learns the truth, Marcus Vale will lose everything.”
