Chapter 4 - THE MOTHER WHO WOKE FOR THIRTY-SEVEN SECONDS
Lena Mercer woke at 5:06 Christmas morning.
For thirty-seven seconds.
A nurse saw her fingers move.
Then her eyes opened.
“Ms. Mercer?”
Lena tried to speak.
Nothing came.
The nurse leaned closer.
“You’re in Northwestern Memorial. You were in an accident.”
Lena’s pulse surged.
“Nor…”
“What?”
“My…”
Then panic overwhelmed weakness.
“Norah.”
The nurse understood.
“Your daughter?”
Lena nodded desperately.
“She’s safe.”
Tears immediately rolled from Lena’s eyes.
“A man found her. She’s safe.”
Lena’s fingers grabbed the nurse’s wrist.
“Who?”
“Gideon Vale.”
The reaction was instant.
Terror.
“No.”
The nurse misunderstood.
“He’s with police—”
“No.”
Lena tried sitting up.
Machines screamed.
“Vale…”
“Yes.”
“Don’t…”
Her eyes rolled back.
Doctors rushed in.
Thirty-seven seconds.
But it was enough to frighten Gideon when Shaw relayed the message.
“Why would she be afraid of me?”
Shaw folded her arms.
“Maybe she wasn’t.”
“She said my name.”
“She said ‘don’t.’ We don’t know the sentence.”
Gideon did.
Or believed he did.
Don’t trust Gideon Vale.
Norah was asleep in a pediatric room.
Gideon stood outside.
Suddenly everything he had done felt dangerous.
He had taken her from the park.
Entered her life.
Opened evidence her mother had hidden.
What if Lena knew something about him that he did not?
Marcus approached.
“We found Adrian.”
“Where?”
“He was never in Aspen.”
“I gathered that.”
“He’s at your lake house.”
Gideon stared.
“My lake house?”
“Wisconsin.”
The property had belonged to Juniper.
At least emotionally.
They had spent summers there.
After she died, Gideon never returned.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Shaw refused to let Gideon go.
Gideon went anyway.
Four hours later, snow covered the lake house.
Marcus entered first.
Shaw followed with two trusted officers.
Gideon came last.
Adrian sat beside the fireplace.
No weapon.
No attempt to flee.
He looked twenty years older.
“Gideon.”
Gideon crossed the room and punched him.
Adrian fell.
Shaw swore.
Marcus did not intervene until Gideon reached for him again.
“Enough.”
“Let me go.”
“No.”
Adrian wiped blood from his mouth.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“Yes.”
That answer stopped Gideon.
Adrian sat slowly.
“Juniper was poisoned with digoxin.”
Gideon felt sick.
“The heart medication?”
“Yes.”
“She wasn’t taking it.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
“Someone introduced it into her IV.”
Gideon’s vision narrowed.
“You knew?”
“Afterward.”
“And said nothing?”
“I tried.”
“You stood at her funeral!”
“I was trying to keep you alive!”
Gideon lunged again.
This time Shaw stepped between them.
“Talk.”
Adrian looked at Gideon.
“The insurance fraud is real. I participated.”
Gideon’s face hardened.
“But not initially for profit.”
“Then why?”
“Because your father asked me to.”
That was impossible.
Thomas Vale had died nine years earlier.
Adrian continued.
“Your father discovered someone was using Vale-owned healthcare companies to wash money through fraudulent medical billing. He asked me to trace it quietly.”
“Why not authorities?”
“Because he believed someone inside federal law enforcement was involved.”
Lena’s warning.
Friends with badges.
Adrian continued.
“After Thomas died, I kept investigating. Then Juniper got sick.”
Gideon whispered, “What does she have to do with this?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why was she poisoned?”
“Because someone wanted you broken.”
That sentence landed differently.
Not dead.
Broken.
Three years ago, Juniper’s death had done exactly that.
Gideon abandoned day-to-day control of Vale Group.
Who had taken over?
Adrian.
Gideon stared at him.
“You benefited.”
“Yes.”
“Then why shouldn’t I believe you killed her?”
“You should.”
Adrian’s eyes filled.
“I have asked myself the same question for three years.”
He opened a safe.
Inside were files.
Printed photographs.
One showed a nurse entering Juniper’s hospital room.
Gideon recognized her.
Rebecca Hall.
Juniper’s favorite night nurse.
“She disappeared two days after Juniper died,” Adrian said.
“Where?”
“We thought Canada.”
“Thought?”
“Lena found her.”
Gideon froze.
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
“Alive?”
“She was alive six weeks ago.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian produced another photograph.
Rebecca meeting a man.
The image was blurry.
Gideon stared.
The man wore a long coat.
Silver hair.
A cane.
Gideon knew him.
His uncle.
Malcolm Vale.
Chairman emeritus of Vale Group.
His father’s older brother.
The man who had raised Gideon after Thomas died.
“No.”
Adrian nodded sadly.
“I said the same thing.”
Gideon walked away.
Malcolm had taught him to drive.
Malcolm had attended every one of Juniper’s school plays.
Malcolm had held her hand during chemotherapy.
No.
Some betrayals were too large for the mind to accept immediately.
Then Shaw’s phone rang.
Northwestern.
Lena had awakened again.
This time she was conscious.
And asking for Gideon.
They returned to Chicago.
Gideon entered Lena’s room alone.
She looked impossibly fragile.
Bruises covered one side of her face.
Her eyes found him.
“You found Norah.”
“Yes.”
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
Lena cried.
Gideon remained near the door.
“You were afraid when you heard my name.”
“I was afraid for you.”
He stared.
“What?”
Lena struggled to speak.
“I tried to warn you months ago.”
“I’ve never met you.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“But I knew Juniper.”
Everything inside Gideon stopped.
“What did you say?”
May you like
Lena looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“I was there the night your daughter died.”
