Chapter 5 - THE PATIENT WHO COULD NOT SPEAK
The clinic stood outside the city behind a row of bare maple trees. Sebastian had visited it twice a week during his father's first year of rehabilitation, before Antonio insisted on returning home.
The director greeted Sebastian in a polished reception area and claimed Margaret Ellis had never been a patient there.
Marcus placed a photograph of the nurse on the desk.
"Look carefully."
The director's smile faltered.
"I can't discuss private patient information."
"Then discuss the woman who disappeared from your building after being brought here under a false name."
The director called security.
Sebastian leaned forward.
"That is a mistake. I came here asking questions. If your people try to stop me, the police will have questions of their own."
Five minutes later, a frightened orderly admitted that a woman had been moved to a restricted rehabilitation wing three nights earlier. Her records identified her as Jane Miller.
The wing had no patients listed on the public census.
Sebastian and Marcus found Margaret in a locked room at the end of the corridor. She lay on a hospital bed with bruising around her wrists and a bandage across her forehead.
Her eyes widened when Sebastian entered.
"Mr. Romano."
He pulled a chair beside her.
"You're safe now."
She shook her head.
"No. You don't understand. They'll come for your father."
"Who?"
"Dominic and Vanessa. They need him to sign the transfer documents. If he refuses, they'll have him declared incompetent. If he signs, the trust belongs to them."
"Why didn't you tell the police?"
Margaret gave a bitter laugh.
"Because someone filed a report claiming I stole medication. The local police detained me for questioning. Before they released me, a doctor I'd never met gave me an injection. I woke up here."
Sebastian's hands curled into fists.
"Who authorized the transfer?"
"The clinic director. But he was following orders from a man named Nicholas."
Sebastian's cousin had vanished, and now his name appeared at the center of the scheme.
Margaret reached beneath her pillow and produced a folded sheet of paper.
"I copied the account numbers before they took my bag. Your mother created a private trust years ago. It was meant to protect Antonio if he became unable to manage his affairs. After her supposed death, Dominic convinced the family lawyers that the trust had been dissolved."
"Can we prove she never died?"
"The original documents can. But the trust wasn't the only thing she hid."
Margaret's eyes shifted toward the door.
"Your father knows where the second document is."
Sebastian leaned closer.
"What document?"
"A letter written by your mother the night of the fire. She left it with Antonio because she discovered someone had arranged the accident."
"Which accident?"
Margaret swallowed.
"The lake house fire. Your mother never died there. The fire was set to make everyone believe she had."
Sebastian felt the room grow smaller.
"Who set it?"
Margaret looked directly at him.
"Your father never told you the whole truth because he believed he was protecting you."
Before she could continue, the clinic's alarm sounded.
Marcus drew his weapon.
"Someone's coming."
A nurse appeared in the doorway, pale and breathless.
"They're evacuating the wing. There's been a fire in the records room."
Sebastian stood.
"Get Margaret out through the service exit."
Marcus helped the nurse move the bed.
Sebastian stayed long enough to photograph the documents, then ran toward the stairwell.
Smoke filled the corridor.
At the end of the hall, a figure in a dark coat emerged from the haze.
Sebastian raised his weapon.
"Stop!"
The figure turned.
Nicholas Romano.
His cousin looked terrified, his right hand wrapped in a bloodstained bandage.
"Sebastian, don't shoot. I didn't start the fire."
"Then why are you here?"
Nicholas looked past him toward Margaret's room.
"Because I came to warn you."
"About what?"
Nicholas's eyes filled with tears.
"Dominic has the original trust documents. And he's already taken your father."
Sebastian's phone rang.
The caller ID showed the estate's private landline.
He answered.
Vanessa's voice came through, calm and almost tender.
"If you want Antonio alive, come home alone."
A second voice spoke behind her.
Antonio.
"Sebastian, don't come—"
The call ended with a sharp impact.
Sebastian sprinted for the exit.
But as he reached his car, Nicholas grabbed his arm.
"There's something else you need to know."
Sebastian turned.
Nicholas's voice dropped to a whisper.
"The person who signed your mother's death certificate wasn't a doctor."
He opened his bloodstained hand.
May you like
Inside lay a photograph of a document bearing Antonio Romano's signature.
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