Chapter 6 - Dr. Cole
Norah stepped into the hallway before Adrian reached Ryan’s door.
“You cannot go in.”
Adrian stopped.
He was fifty nine.
Thin.
Gray hair.
Calm eyes.
The kind of doctor who looked reassuring even while holding a bag inside a hospital at two in the morning.
“Norah Vale.”
“You know me.”
“I know who you are.”
“That is becoming a theme.”
Adrian’s gaze moved toward Ryan.
“He needs rest.”
“He needs distance from you.”
Something changed.
Small.
Then gone.
“Why?”
“He identified your ring.”
Adrian looked at his left hand.
Black stone.
Silver.
“My Yale class ring.”
“Conveniently common?”
“About six hundred graduates have one from my year.”
Norah remembered Vivian saying the same.
Many men could own it.
Ryan’s identification mattered.
It was not enough.
Adrian asked:
“Where is Declan?”
“Not your concern.”
“I am his physician.”
“You may also be the man who got him shot.”
Adrian did not flinch.
“If I wanted Declan dead, I would not have spent fifteen years keeping him alive.”
“People change.”
“So do frightened ex husbands facing prison.”
Fair.
Ryan had motive to point elsewhere.
Norah hated that Adrian was right.
Then Declan’s voice came from behind her.
“Adrian.”
He had insisted on walking from the private treatment room the hospital gave Vincent’s team.
He looked terrible.
Marcus supported one side.
Declan pushed him off.
Adrian stared at the blood.
“You absolute idiot.”
“Nice to see you too.”
“You need imaging.”
“Later.”
“Now.”
Declan lifted his gun slightly beneath his coat.
Adrian noticed.
“Are you seriously threatening your doctor?”
“Depends on your answers.”
Adrian set his bag on the floor.
“Ask.”
“The silver case.”
Adrian’s eyes changed.
“What about it?”
“You knew I had it.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Ryan called me.”
Norah froze.
Ryan shouted from inside the room.
“Liar.”
Adrian continued:
“Six hours ago. He wanted to know whether the medical samples were valuable.”
Ryan’s voice:
“I never called you.”
Adrian took out his phone.
Call log.
Blocked number.
No proof it was Ryan.
Recording?
Adrian had one.
Male voice:
Dr. Cole?
“Yes.”
I have old samples from Dr. Elias Vale.
Pause.
What samples?
Celeste Hayes.
Longer pause.
Where are you?
Voice distorted.
Could be Ryan.
Could be someone else.
Adrian looked at Norah.
“I told Declan immediately.”
Declan nodded.
“That part is true.”
Norah turned.
“You knew Adrian knew about the case.”
“Yes.”
“You implied that made him suspicious.”
“It does.”
“You people weaponize half truths professionally.”
Declan looked almost apologetic.
Adrian continued.
“I advised Declan not to meet anyone alone.”
“He ignored you.”
“Obviously.”
Declan asked:
“Where were you during the ambush?”
“Home.”
“Security?”
“Offline.”
“Convenient.”
“Someone cut power.”
“Your ring appears in footage.”
“Someone wearing a ring.”
Ryan shouted:
“It is him.”
Adrian walked toward the doorway.
Norah blocked him.
“Stay.”
He stopped.
“Norah, your ex husband spent eighteen months laundering money through your identity. You should consider whether his sudden moral clarity benefits him.”
Ryan went silent.
That landed.
Then Adrian looked at Declan.
“Your wound.”
“What about it?”
“If security issue ammunition struck you, I can tell which weapons were signed out.”
Marcus said:
“I already checked. Two sidearms missing.”
“Whose?”
Marcus hesitated.
Declan noticed.
“Say it.”
“One registered to Connor.”
Declan’s brother.
“And the second?”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“Medical security.”
Adrian laughed once.
“I do not carry a Hayes pistol.”
“Your protection officer does.”
“Where is he?”
“Missing.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Real this time.
“My driver?”
“Also missing.”
Declan said:
“Interesting night.”
Adrian ignored him.
“My security officer’s name is Peter Lowe. He left my house at eleven forty.”
“Where?”
“He said exterior alarm triggered.”
“Did he return?”
“No.”
Marcus checked his offline device.
Peter Lowe.
Former Hayes security.
Access level three.
Qualified for medical room corridor.
Norah looked at Declan.
“Another person who can get near your secret room.”
“Not into it.”
“Unless somebody gave him a key.”
Adrian said:
“Vincent keeps emergency keys.”
Vincent, standing farther down the corridor, heard.
He approached.
“I keep sealed emergency access.”
“Seal intact?” Declan asked.
Vincent’s silence answered.
“No.”
“When did you check?”
“After Marcus called me.”
“Key missing?”
“Yes.”
The person who turned the medical room lock might have used Vincent’s stolen key.
Another layer.
Then hospital radiology called.
Declan’s scan had been completed during the argument because Norah finally convinced him to cooperate.
The bullet was lodged near the seventh rib.
Stable enough for removal.
Dr. Carter? Different story. The attending surgeon here was Dr. Rebecca Lane.
She asked who would authorize.
Declan looked at Adrian.
“No.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“Declan.”
“No offense.”
“Plenty taken.”
Norah said:
“Independent surgeon.”
Declan nodded.
Adrian looked toward her.
“You trust strangers more than me.”
“No,” Declan said. “I currently trust the maid more than anyone.”
Norah sighed.
“I really need a better job title.”
Before surgery, Declan handed Norah the silver case.
“Do not give this to Vincent.”
Vincent heard.
“Charming.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
“Vivian?”
“No.”
“Adrian?”
“Especially no.”
Norah looked at the wounded man.
“Then where?”
Declan whispered:
“Room 317. Locker behind the oxygen cabinet. Code is the year Elias died.”
Norah’s chest tightened.
“How do you know the year?”
Declan held her gaze.
“Because I was at his funeral.”
She stopped.
“You were what?”
The orderly began moving his bed.
Declan’s eyes stayed on her.
“Your mother asked me not to speak to you.”
Norah stood frozen in the hospital corridor.
Her mother.
Rebecca Vale.
Dead six years ago from cancer.
Had known Declan Hayes.
May you like
And never told her.
Continue to the next part: Norah learns her mother knew Declan personally and deliberately kept him away after Elias’s death, meaning both of her parents hid the Hayes family from her.
