Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN ROOM 417
Richard Whitmore survived.
Barely.
Doctors at St. Matthew’s Medical Center stabilized him after discovering an abnormal concentration of a sedative in his bloodstream.
Not enough to prove someone intended to kill him.
Enough to prove his collapse wasn’t natural.
Dr. Halpern disappeared before police could question him.
His car was found at a train station before dawn.
Vanessa claimed she knew nothing.
Adrien didn’t believe her.
Neither did Maya.
At 4:20 in the morning, they sat across from each other in a hospital waiting room.
Neither mentioned the kiss.
Eventually Maya did.
“Why?”
Adrien looked exhausted.
“Why what?”
“You know what.”
He rubbed his face.
“I was angry.”
“So you kissed an employee?”
“Yes.”
“That was stupid.”
“Extremely.”
“Vanessa thinks I’m sleeping with you.”
“She thinks whatever is useful.”
Maya folded her arms.
“Three hundred people saw it.”
“I know.”
“Someone recorded it.”
“I know.”
“It’ll be everywhere.”
His phone buzzed.
He looked.
“It already is.”
Maya groaned.
The headline read:
BILLIONAIRE HEIR KISSES MAID AT OWN ENGAGEMENT GALA.
Of course.
No mention of forty million dollars.
No mention of Halpern.
No mention of Richard collapsing.
The maid was more entertaining.
Adrien looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Maya believed him.
It didn’t fix anything.
“My mother.”
Adrien nodded.
They went upstairs.
Claire Coleman occupied Room 417.
Maya entered first.
Her mother looked fragile beneath the blankets.
Fifty-nine.
Former public-school teacher.
Warm brown eyes.
Hair thinning from treatment.
“Maya?”
“I’m here.”
Claire noticed Adrien.
Her expression changed.
“Adrien Whitmore.”
Adrien stopped.
“You know me?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I hoped I’d never see you again.”
Maya stared.
“Mom?”
Claire looked frightened.
“Close the door.”
Adrien did.
Maya sat beside her.
“What did Richard mean when he said you know?”
Claire began crying.
“I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
“Why we came to Connecticut.”
Maya frowned.
They had moved from Pennsylvania when Maya was thirteen.
Claire always said it was for work.
“That wasn’t because of your teaching job?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Claire looked at Adrien.
“Because of his mother.”
Adrien stiffened.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
“I know.”
“What does she have to do with you?”
Claire whispered a name.
“Margaret Whitmore.”
Adrien’s mother.
Maya had seen portraits of her throughout the estate.
Elegant.
Dark-haired.
Dead in a boating accident twenty-five years earlier.
Claire reached toward the bedside cabinet.
“Bottom drawer.”
Maya opened it.
Inside was an old envelope.
Claire had apparently kept it with her even in the hospital.
Adrien recognized the handwriting immediately.
“My mother wrote this.”
Claire nodded.
“She was my friend.”
Adrien stared.
Margaret Whitmore and Claire Coleman had met at college.
They remained secretly close after Margaret married Richard.
But Claire knew things about the Whitmore family that never reached the newspapers.
“Margaret discovered money disappearing from the Whitmore charitable foundation.”
Adrien leaned closer.
“How much?”
“Millions.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
Claire continued.
Margaret believed someone inside the company was using medical charities to move money through research companies.
One company appeared repeatedly.
Sinclair Biomedical.
Adrien’s face changed.
Vanessa’s family.
“Twenty-five years ago?”
Claire nodded.
“The Whitmores and Sinclairs have been connected longer than you know.”
Maya felt cold.
“Why didn't Margaret tell Richard?”
“She tried.”
“And?”
“He didn’t believe her.”
Claire explained that Richard’s closest business partner at the time was Charles Sinclair.
Vanessa’s father.
Charles convinced Richard that Margaret was emotionally unstable after childbirth.
Adrien looked sick.
“He said that about my mother?”
“Yes.”
Then Margaret died.
Boating accident.
No witnesses.
Claire never believed it.
“Did you tell police?”
“I tried.”
Charles Sinclair’s attorneys threatened her.
Then someone broke into Claire’s apartment.
Nothing stolen.
A message left on the kitchen table:
YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER.
Maya stopped breathing.
“I was the threat?”
Claire cried.
“You were thirteen.”
So Claire ran.
Changed jobs.
Stopped speaking publicly about Margaret.
Years passed.
Then six months ago, Claire received a package.
Inside were copies of the old foundation records.
And a note.
THEY’RE DOING IT AGAIN.
“Who sent it?”
“I don't know.”
Claire started investigating.
Shortly afterward, she became sick.
At first doctors thought autoimmune disease.
Then organ inflammation.
Neurological symptoms.
Unexplained blood abnormalities.
Adrien stared.
“What treatment is she receiving?”
“Experimental immunotherapy.”
“Funded by?”
Maya already knew.
“The Whitmore Foundation.”
Adrien stood.
The same fund Vanessa had attempted to move forty million dollars from.
Claire grabbed his wrist.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“North Coast Biomedical.”
Adrien looked at Maya.
“That’s where Vanessa was moving the money.”
Claire nodded.
“It used to be Sinclair Biomedical.”
Silence.
“They changed the name after Margaret died.”
Adrien whispered:
“My fiancée’s family company?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked terrified.
“And Dr. Halpern worked for them.”
Adrien immediately called security.
“Nathan, I need everything on Stephen Halpern and North Coast Biomedical.”
Then Claire said:
“Check my blood.”
Maya frowned.
“What?”
“My symptoms started after Halpern recommended supplements.”
Adrien stopped speaking.
Claire continued.
“He told me they would protect my liver during treatment.”
Maya felt sick.
“Mom, you never told me.”
“I thought they were vitamins.”
“Do you still have them?”
Claire pointed toward her purse.
Maya retrieved a small bottle.
Adrien photographed the label.
Then he called police.
The hospital laboratory tested the capsules.
Results came hours later.
They contained a compound not listed on the bottle.
Long-term exposure could produce symptoms similar to Claire’s illness.
Maya stared at the report.
“My mother wasn't sick.”
The doctor corrected gently.
“She is very sick.”
“But someone made her sick.”
“We can’t conclude that yet.”
Adrien could.
“So they poisoned her slowly.”
Maya covered her mouth.
Claire began crying.
Adrien looked toward the window.
Vanessa hadn’t merely been stealing money.
Someone connected to her family had possibly silenced Margaret twenty-five years ago, targeted Claire when she began investigating, and drugged Richard when he became suspicious.
Then Nathan called.
“Adrien, we found Halpern.”
“Where?”
“Airport.”
“Leaving?”
“Yes.”
“For Switzerland.”
“Police?”
“They have him.”
“Good.”
Nathan hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“We searched his office at your father’s request.”
“And?”
“There’s a locked file cabinet.”
“Open it.”
“We did.”
Nathan lowered his voice.
“There are medical files on Claire Coleman.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Then Nathan continued.
“And one on you.”
Adrien went still.
“What kind of file?”
“Genetic testing.”
Maya looked at him.
Nathan said:
“Adrien, according to this report, Richard Whitmore isn’t your biological father.”
The hospital room became silent.
Claire whispered:
“Oh, God.”
Adrien slowly turned toward her.
“You knew.”
Claire’s face gave him the answer before she spoke.
“Claire.”
She started crying.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
Adrien’s voice broke.
“Then who is my father?”
Claire looked at Maya.
May you like
Then at Adrien.
“Charles Sinclair.”
