Chapter 10 - The DoctorThe underground room suddenly felt too small.
Robert unplugged the computer.
“Move.”
They rushed toward the exit.
But outside, the shooting had stopped.
That frightened Daniel more than the gunfire.
“They found us.”
They emerged through a rear tunnel into the woods.
Security vehicles waited nearby.
Robert ordered everyone into the cars.
“Hospital.”
Oliver stared.
“Why?”
“To find the doctor.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Wrong.”
Robert turned.
“What?”
“The doctor knows we found the ledger.”
Victoria looked at Daniel.
“Then where do we go?”
Daniel answered:
“To the first place they never thought to search.”
Robert understood.
“The old Hale warehouse.”
They drove through the city.
Oliver sat beside Robert.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Finally Oliver said:
“Why did you never search for me?”
Robert looked at him.
“I didn’t know you existed.”
“You knew Clara disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And you never wondered whether she had a child?”
Robert closed his eyes.
“I was convinced she hated me.”
Oliver looked out the window.
“My mother never hated you.”
Robert swallowed.
“I know.”
After a moment, Oliver spoke again.
“She forgave you.”
Robert turned.
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“When?”
“Three days before she died.”
Oliver paused.
“She said, ‘Your father made terrible choices, but he was never a terrible man.’”
Robert’s eyes filled with tears.
Oliver continued.
“She still loved you.”
Robert looked down.
“I don't deserve that.”
“No.”
Oliver looked at him.
“But she gave it anyway.”
The car arrived at the warehouse.
Inside, they found a locked office.
Daniel opened it.
On the desk sat a medical file.
Robert pulled it open.
It contained Clara’s final hospital records.
But there was something else.
A handwritten note.
Robert,
If you are reading this, I am gone.
Robert froze.
The handwriting was Clara’s.
He read silently.
Then aloud:
“I know what they did.”
“I know they poisoned me.”
“I know they will try to reach Oliver.”
“But there is one person I trust.”
Robert looked up.
“Who?”
The note named someone.
Oliver read over his shoulder.
His face went white.
“Victoria.”
Victoria stared.
“No.”
The letter continued.
“Victoria never knew the truth about her father. But I watched her from a distance. She is not like them.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
Robert continued.
“If Oliver ever meets Robert, protect them both.”
Oliver stared at Victoria.
The woman who had mocked him at the gala.
The woman who had snatched his pouch.
The woman who had made him feel small.
And now Clara had trusted her.
Victoria began crying.
“I didn't deserve that.”
Oliver nodded.
“No.”
Then Robert noticed the final line.
He read it again.
There is one more person who knows everything.
The name beneath it had been smudged.
Daniel leaned closer.
“That isn't a name.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a location.”
Robert looked again.
A street address.
An old church.
Oliver recognized it.
“My mother used to go there.”
Robert’s expression changed.
“Why?”
“She told me she met someone there every month.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Daniel suddenly stepped backward.
“What?”
He stared at the address.
“No.”
Robert looked at him.
“What is it?”
Daniel whispered:
“That church is where Victor Hale buried the last secret.”
Suddenly a car horn sounded outside.
Headlights swept across the warehouse.
Victoria looked through the window.
Someone was standing in the rain.
A woman.
Holding a white umbrella.
Oliver stared.
“She looks like my mother.”
Robert’s heart stopped.
The woman raised her face.
May you like
It was not Clara.
But she was wearing Clara’s ring.
