Chapter 3 - Poison in the Veins
The brass key turned with a heavy, sickening click. Thomas reacted instantly, gripping Clara’s shoulder and pulling her behind him as the heavy oak door swung inward.
Standing in the doorway was not Victoria, but a man Clara recognized all too well: Dr. Julian Mercer. He wore a rumpled gray suit beneath a dark wool overcoat, his wire-rimmed glasses slightly askew, clutching a leather medical satchel against his chest. Behind him stood Victoria, her arms crossed, a cold smirk playing at the corners of her lips.
"Thomas, Clara," Julian said, offering a nervous, twitching smile that did nothing to conceal the beads of sweat gathering along his receding hairline. "I didn't realize you two were in here. Victoria mentioned there were some... personal items of Eleanor’s that required medical disposal. Certain prescription compounds that need official chain of custody."
"Eleanor was on zero controlled substances, Julian," Thomas said, his voice flat, dangerously calm. "She took iron supplements and blood pressure medication. What prescription compounds are you looking for?"
Julian swallowed hard, his throat bobbing visibly. "There were... palliative treatments during her final days. Experimental sedatives administered at home before we moved her to the facility. Protocol demands—"
"Protocol demands an independent coroner's review if controlled substances were administered outside a registered facility," Thomas interrupted, taking half a step forward. The physician shrank back slightly, his shoulder bumping into Victoria.
"Don't let him intimidate you, Julian," Victoria snapped, pushing the doctor forward into the study. "Thomas, you are currently acting in bad faith. The probate court has already received the preliminary filing. As Eleanor's designated domestic partner of record prior to your estranged business status, I have legal custody of her immediate effects until the reading of the will."
Clara couldn't stay silent. The fury burning through her chest eclipsed the lingering fear. "Estranged? He was holding her hand the night before she died! You were nothing more than her corporate liaison!"
Victoria’s eyes narrowed into slits of venomous triumph. "Is that what he told you, sweet girl? Did your doting stepfather neglect to mention the separation agreement Eleanor drafted two months ago? The one sitting on the desk at Mercer & Vance Associates, waiting for his signature?"
Clara looked at Thomas. The man didn't flinch, but the slight tightening around his eyes betrayed the truth. A sickening drop occurred in Clara's stomach. The ground beneath her feet was turning into quicksand; every anchor she clung to was fraying.
"That document was drafted under duress," Thomas said, his voice dropping into a register that felt like grinding granite. "And Julian knows exactly why Eleanor wanted it prepared. Because Eleanor discovered where the funds from the South American expansion were actually going."
Julian’s face went completely pale. His knuckles turned white around the handle of his leather satchel. "Thomas... that is corporate business, that has nothing to do with her clinical demise—"
"Doesn't it?" Thomas stepped entirely into Julian’s personal space, towering over the physician. "Clara, take your phone. Dial the number on the yellow card taped beneath my desk blotter. Tell Agent Vance from Internal Affairs that Dr. Mercer has arrived to collect the evidence."
Victoria didn't scream or protest. Instead, she took three swift steps to the desk, her manicured hand lunging not for the phone, but toward Eleanor’s brass lamp. With a violent twist of her wrist, she yanked the lamp sideways.
May you like
A muffled mechanical click echoed through the room. Beneath the floorboards behind Eleanor’s desk, the mahogany paneling slid back six inches, revealing a reinforced steel lockbox that Clara had never seen in her life.
"Too late, Thomas," Victoria hissed, lunging for the box.
