Chapter 7 - THE DOCTOR WHO SIGNED CAMILLE’S DEATH
The poison was digoxin.
Mara’s blood confirmed it.
The same drug Camille had suspected.
Nolan felt something inside him harden.
Grief had finally found a target.
Dr. Jonathan Webb.
The physician connected to Theodore.
Rachel’s first baby.
Camille’s suspicious will.
Camille’s death.
Nolan called Boston police and demanded Camille’s case be reopened.
Grant already had counsel moving for exhumation authorization.
Nolan hated the word.
Exhumation.
Camille had been buried twelve days earlier.
He had barely survived lowering her coffin into the ground.
Now he might have to watch them bring her back up.
But if someone poisoned her, grief no longer had the right to ask for peace.
It needed truth.
Rebecca sat beside Eli.
“I should have told her sooner.”
Eli looked at her.
“Told who?”
“Camille.”
“About what?”
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“Webb.”
Nolan turned.
“You knew?”
“Not about the poisoning.”
“What did you know?”
“He falsified Rachel’s records.”
“Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Rebecca looked ashamed.
“Rachel’s death.”
Nolan’s pulse accelerated.
“What?”
“The autopsy report said she had alcohol in her system.”
Eli stared.
“My mom didn’t drink.”
Rebecca nodded.
“I knew.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was afraid.”
Eli stood.
“You were always afraid.”
Rebecca flinched.
Rachel had called her the afraid one.
Apparently, accurately.
Nolan stepped in before anger swallowed the room.
“What did Webb change?”
“Blood alcohol level.”
“Why?”
“To support the story that Rachel caused the crash.”
Eli’s face broke.
“She didn’t?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
Grant asked:
“Who paid Webb?”
“I never saw money.”
“Then what?”
“Robert protected his medical practice after a malpractice case.”
Another favor.
Another loyal professional.
Nolan asked:
“Did Lorraine know?”
Rebecca did not answer.
Enough.
Eli walked away.
Nolan let him.
The boy had discovered in one day that his aunt, grandmother, doctor, and family had all helped bury lies around his mother.
Grant received a secure message.
Robert Vale’s private plane had filed a flight plan.
Seattle to Vancouver.
Departure in ninety minutes.
Passenger list confidential.
Nolan stood.
“Grace.”
“Probably.”
“We stop it.”
Grant said:
“We need law enforcement.”
“Call them while we drive.”
They reached the private terminal before departure.
Police blocked the runway.
Robert’s jet never moved.
But Grace was not aboard.
Lorraine was.
Robert was not.
Nolan confronted Lorraine through a glass interview room after police detained her for questioning related to Mara’s poisoning.
She looked calm.
Too calm.
“Nolan.”
“Where is Grace?”
Lorraine smiled sadly.
“You sound like Camille.”
“Don’t say her name.”
“She loved you.”
“You poisoned her.”
Lorraine’s expression changed.
Just slightly.
“I did not.”
“The vitamins.”
“I took them because they would implicate me.”
Nolan stared.
“That sounds like something a guilty person says.”
“They were planted.”
“By who?”
“Robert.”
Nolan almost laughed.
Of course she blamed Robert.
“Where is Grace?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were on camera taking her.”
“I took her away from Mara.”
“After Mara collapsed.”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
Lorraine leaned forward.
“Because I knew what they gave her.”
Nolan stopped.
“What?”
“I smelled it.”
“You smelled digoxin?”
“No.”
“The tea.”
Nolan frowned.
“Webb used the same herbal mixture to mask bitterness when Theodore was dying.”
The room went silent.
“Are you saying Theodore was poisoned too?”
Lorraine’s eyes hardened.
“Yes.”
“By who?”
“Robert.”
Nolan stared.
“Then why did you protect him for seventeen years?”
“I didn’t.”
“You stayed beside him.”
“I stayed close enough to keep my daughters alive.”
Nolan wanted to reject it.
But Camille’s entire strategy had involved staying close to people she distrusted.
Maybe she learned it from Lorraine.
“Where is Grace?”
Lorraine looked toward the one-way mirror.
“Robert has her.”
“You just said you took her.”
“I got her out of the terminal.”
“Then?”
“Someone intercepted us.”
“Who?”
She closed her eyes.
“Alexander.”
Nolan felt cold.
Theodore’s hidden son.
Grace’s biological father.
Officially dead for twenty-six years.
“Alexander Vale is alive?”
Lorraine opened her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why take Grace?”
“Because Robert isn’t the only person trying to control the trust.”
Nolan leaned closer.
“What does Alexander want?”
“His daughter.”
“That’s not all.”
“No.”
Lorraine looked suddenly frightened.
“He wants Ivy too.”
Nolan’s heart slammed.
“Why?”
Lorraine whispered:
“Because Camille discovered something in Theodore’s original trust.”
“What?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“She stopped trusting me before she died.”
Fair.
Then Lorraine said:
“But she told Rebecca one sentence.”
Nolan looked toward Rebecca outside the room.
“What sentence?”
Lorraine answered:
May you like
“If Ivy and Grace are together, Robert loses everything.”
Nolan stopped breathing.
