Chapter 10 - The Doctor Who Saved Him
Eleanor did not run.
That made her more frightening.
She stood across the street beside an unmarked sedan.
Silver hair.
Green scrubs beneath a coat.
The woman who had saved Dominique’s life.
The woman who had ordered the treatment that cleared the poison.
The woman wearing Vesper’s ring.
Dominique crossed the street slowly.
Gabriel moved beside him.
Bridget followed.
Eleanor looked at them.
“You received the photograph.”
“Yes,” Bridget said.
“From Sebastian?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor sighed.
“He always did enjoy theater.”
Dominique looked at the ring.
“Explain.”
“I belonged to Vesper.”
“Belonged?”
“Past tense.”
Gabriel laughed coldly.
“That’s convenient.”
Eleanor removed the ring.
“Your father recruited me twenty-nine years ago.”
Dominique stared.
“Why?”
“Because organized crime occasionally needed physicians.”
“And poisoning people?”
“No.”
“Vale did.”
“Vale was recruited later.”
Bridget stepped forward.
“Who runs Vesper?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Nobody.”
“Sebastian says we met the leader.”
“Sebastian lies.”
“Then why should we believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
The answer surprised Bridget.
Eleanor continued.
“Believe evidence.”
She handed Bridget a keycard.
“What is this?”
“Private laboratory at St. Catherine’s.”
“What’s there?”
“The original blood samples from Thomas Collins.”
Margaret inhaled sharply.
Eleanor looked at her.
“I kept them.”
“For twelve years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew his death was wrong.”
Bridget’s anger surged.
“Yet you said nothing.”
“I said plenty. To people who disappeared.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor met her eyes.
“That is the problem with conspiracies. Everyone who survives begins to look guilty.”
Dominique took the keycard.
“We go now.”
St. Catherine’s research wing had closed five years earlier.
Eleanor maintained access through an archival program.
The laboratory smelled of dust and refrigeration.
She opened a locked freezer.
Box 9C.
Thomas Collins.
Bridget stared at the label.
Her father had become six frozen tubes.
Eleanor pulled out a folder.
“Original analysis.”
Bridget read.
CARDIAC GLYCOSIDE.
Same family of compound used on Dominique.
“Batch?”
Eleanor pointed.
Bridget remembered Gabriel.
He had said he saw batch forty-two used on their father.
She looked at Dominique.
“Your father.”
Eleanor opened another box.
SALVATORE COSTELLO.
Batch 42.
Same compound.
“They were poisoned at the same time.”
“Yes.”
“But Salvatore survived.”
“Because Thomas discovered it first.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
Eleanor continued.
“Thomas switched Salvatore’s dose. Salvatore staged his death. Thomas planned to expose the network.”
“And somebody killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Eleanor removed another document.
Security log.
Entry time.
02:14 a.m.
Authorized visitor.
G. Costello.
Gabriel stared.
“No.”
Dominique turned.
“Gabriel.”
“That wasn’t me.”
The log showed his name.
Biometric clearance.
Fingerprint accepted.
Bridget felt sick.
“Can fingerprints be copied?”
“Now?” Eleanor said. “Easily. Twelve years ago? Less easily.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You think I killed Thomas?”
“I think somebody wanted the records to say you were there.”
Margaret suddenly spoke.
“Gabriel was there.”
Everyone turned.
Gabriel went pale.
“You knew?”
Margaret nodded.
“Thomas told me.”
Bridget stared at her mother.
“Why?”
Margaret looked at Gabriel.
“Because you were helping him.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Memory returned visibly.
“I met Thomas that night.”
Dominique stepped forward.
“You told me you barely knew him.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Father ordered me never to speak of it.”
“Father again.”
Gabriel’s voice cracked.
“I was twenty-two.”
“What happened?”
Gabriel looked at Bridget.
“Your father contacted me because he needed someone outside Adrian’s influence.”
“Why you?”
“Because I hated Adrian.”
Bridget almost smiled.
Gabriel continued.
“I met Thomas at the lab. He gave me a drive.”
“The ledger?”
“Earlier version.”
“What happened?”
“Men came.”
“Who?”
“I never saw their faces.”
“Then?”
“I ran.”
“You left my father?”
“I was shot.”
He pulled up his shirt.
A scar crossed his side.
“I woke two days later in a private clinic. Father told me Thomas was dead.”
Dominique stared.
“And you never told me.”
“Father said speaking would get you killed.”
Dominique laughed bitterly.
“Our entire family should have tried honesty once.”
Eleanor went to another freezer drawer.
“This is why Sebastian wants these samples destroyed.”
She removed a vial.
“There is something unique in batch forty-two and forty-seven.”
“What?”
“A stabilizing compound.”
Bridget frowned.
“So?”
“It was manufactured by one laboratory in Europe.”
“Which one?”
“Valence Biotech.”
Dominique knew the name.
“Adrian owns part of it.”
“No.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Your father does.”
Silence.
Dominique stared.
“Salvatore?”
“Through shell companies.”
Gabriel cursed.
Bridget felt anger returning.
Every path led back to the same man.
Salvatore.
Alive.
Hidden.
Lying.
Eleanor packed the samples.
“We take this to Grant.”
Then the freezer alarm sounded.
Eleanor looked at the panel.
“Fire suppression.”
Smoke began entering from vents.
Gabriel drew his gun.
“Not fire.”
Eleanor’s face changed.
“Gas.”
They ran.
The laboratory door locked automatically.
Eleanor swiped the keycard.
Red.
“Again,” Bridget said.
Red.
Dominique kicked the door.
Nothing.
Smoke thickened.
Bridget coughed.
Margaret swayed.
Gabriel covered his mouth.
Eleanor opened the emergency panel.
Wires.
“Thirty seconds.”
“To what?”
“Before we lose consciousness.”
Dominique took a chair and smashed the narrow glass beside the door.
Reinforced.
It cracked.
Again.
His body gave out.
Bridget caught him.
“Gabriel!”
Together they struck the glass.
It broke.
Fresh air rushed in.
They crawled through.
In the hallway, a figure waited.
Black coat.
Silver ring.
Bridget recognized him.
Salvatore Costello.
He held a pistol.
And it was pointed directly at Eleanor.
“You should have destroyed those samples twelve years ago.”
Eleanor stared at him.
May you like
“You should have stayed dead.”
Salvatore pulled the trigger.
