Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHO DID NOT DIE NATURALLY
The public story said Gideon Vale died in his sleep.
He had been sixty-two.
His physician described the death as sudden cardiac failure.
Mercer signed the certificate.
There had been no autopsy.
Eleanor said Gideon had requested a private cremation.
Theodore had believed her.
They all had.
Rosalie’s files revealed that Gideon received V-17 two days before he died.
The dose was recorded under a research code.
Subject G-01.
Sebastian stared at the document until Theodore took it from his hand.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you ask why there was no autopsy?”
“Mother said Father feared public examination.”
“He was dead.”
Sebastian’s voice broke.
“I was handling the board.”
“The press.”
“Three thousand employees believed the company would collapse.”
“I let her make the medical decisions.”
Rosalie joined them at the estate by secure video.
She was still too weak to leave the hospital.
“Dad discovered Bellglass before I did.”
“He changed my trust because he knew someone might stop him.”
Sebastian looked toward the screen.
“Why yours?”
“Because he had already asked you to close the project.”
The room became silent.
Sebastian remembered.
Three weeks before Gideon died, their father summoned him to the library.
He said certain research programs had become dangerous.
He ordered Sebastian to freeze all experimental-care funding.
Sebastian refused.
He believed his father was losing confidence after a difficult quarter.
Eleanor told him Gideon’s judgment had become unstable.
Sebastian demanded independent medical proof.
Mercer examined Gideon and declared him competent.
Then privately told Sebastian the older man showed signs of paranoia.
“I thought Father was trying to destroy his own work,” Sebastian said.
Rosalie’s eyes hardened.
“You protected the company from him.”
“Yes.”
“And that gave them time to kill him.”
“Yes.”
He did not ask for mercy.
Detective Ellis opened another file found in Eleanor’s cabinet.
It contained a handwritten note from Gideon.
Sebastian,
If you are reading this after I am gone, then I failed to convince you while I was alive.
Your mother believes the family name can excuse anything done in its protection.
Mercer believes suffering becomes ethical when recorded carefully.
Do not let pride make you useful to them.
The letter had never reached Sebastian.
Eleanor kept it for six years.
Theodore looked toward the conservatory doors.
“Where is she?”
Eleanor had disappeared during the search.
Her car remained outside.
The tunnel beneath the orchid room stood open.
It led to the original Vale laboratory beneath the eastern lawn.
Sebastian grabbed a flashlight.
Theodore reached for the black rubber mallet he had carried from the memorial hall.
Detective Ellis stopped them.
“No one enters until the tactical team arrives.”
A sound came from beneath the floor.
Two taps.
Theodore froze.
May you like
Then a third.
Someone was trapped inside the laboratory.
