Chapter 5 - THE DOCTOR WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Stella stared at Dr. Aris's reflection.
“No.”
Jonah's voice was flat.
“No what?”
“He wouldn't.”
Mateo looked at him.
“You trusted Victor once too.”
Jonah's head snapped toward him.
“Be careful.”
“With what? The truth?”
The church seemed colder.
Stella enlarged the photograph.
Dr. Aris stood near the bedroom door.
But something bothered her.
“He isn't holding the medication.”
Mateo frowned.
“He's in the room.”
“So am I every day.”
She looked at Jonah.
“A photograph tells us he was there. Not what he did.”
Jonah studied her.
“You're defending him.”
“I'm defending evidence.”
That surprised him.
Good.
Dr. Aris had earned scrutiny.
Not conviction.
They returned to the estate just before dawn.
This time Jonah didn't go to the dark study.
He let Stella roll him into the dining room.
She opened the curtains without asking.
He didn't complain.
At seven, Dr. Aris arrived.
Jonah placed Laura Bell's phone on the table.
The doctor looked at the image.
His shoulders dropped.
“You found it.”
Stella leaned forward.
“You knew Laura discovered altered pills.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't tell Jonah?”
“No.”
Jonah's voice became dangerous.
“Why?”
“Because Laura came to me privately.”
Aris sat.
“She believed someone was tampering with your medications. We agreed to replace the bottle and watch who reacted.”
“You used me as bait?”
The doctor didn't flinch.
“You use everyone else that way.”
Stella muttered, “Fair.”
Jonah shot her a look.
She ignored it.
Aris continued.
“Two days later Laura called me. She was frightened.”
“Of whom?”
“She wouldn't say.”
“And then she disappeared.”
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
Aris looked at Mateo.
“She didn't disappear. I helped her leave.”
Jonah's gaze sharpened.
“Where?”
“Her sister's home in Vermont.”
Stella let out a breath.
At least one mystery did not end with a body.
“Why hide that?”
Aris looked directly at Jonah.
“Because she believed someone in this house was watching her.”
“Who?”
“She only gave me one detail.”
He removed his glasses.
“The person knew when Jonah's spasms were worst.”
Stella felt cold.
That required proximity.
Routine.
Medical knowledge.
Or careful observation.
Aris continued.
“The altered tablets weren't intended to kill him.”
“How do you know?”
Stella asked.
“Because the amounts were inconsistent. Whoever did this wanted Jonah weaker at certain times.”
“Meetings,” Jonah said.
Frankie nodded slowly.
“You've canceled three dock meetings because of fatigue.”
Mateo looked at him.
“And the council dinner.”
“And a shipment negotiation.”
Jonah's face darkened.
Somebody had been creating predictable windows when the boss of the Navarro organization could not function at full capacity.
Victor had benefited.
But Victor needed an inside person.
Jonah turned to Aris.
“Who knew my medication schedule?”
“You. Me. Frankie. Medical staff.”
“Mateo?”
“Not originally.”
Stella looked at the bottle.
Then at the house beyond the dining room.
Six nurses.
Different shifts.
Housekeepers.
Security.
Cooks.
Drivers.
A mansion full of people.
The suspect list was enormous.
Then Dr. Aris said, “There is something else.”
Jonah almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“Your neurological decline isn't as severe as you think.”
Stella looked up sharply.
“What?”
Aris opened his medical bag.
He removed Jonah's latest nerve-conduction results.
“The spinal damage is real. The paralysis is permanent unless medicine advances significantly.”
Jonah's face went unreadable.
Aris continued carefully.
“But the deterioration in your hands over the last two months does not match the injury pattern.”
Stella understood first.
“The drugs.”
“Likely part of it.”
Jonah stared at his hands.
“So my arms…”
“May improve substantially once the interfering medication clears and rehabilitation intensifies.”
Not walking.
Not a miracle.
Something better than false hope.
Independence.
The ability to transfer more easily.
Feed himself reliably.
Control his chair without tremors.
Jonah looked away.
Stella saw his throat move.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then Frankie cleared his throat.
“The real manifests.”
Everyone looked at him.
“If Arturo's locker was emptied, whoever took them knew where to look.”
Mateo nodded.
“Which means they knew about the old photograph or the rosary key.”
Stella looked at the wooden rosary in Mateo's hand.
“Where did that come from?”
“Arturo.”
“When?”
“The week before he died.”
Jonah's jaw tightened.
Another thing his father had given Mateo.
Stella examined the brass key beside the crucifix.
Scratches covered one side.
Fresh scratches.
“Someone tried to copy this.”
Mateo stared.
“What?”
She held it toward the light.
“See the edge? Those marks aren't old.”
Frankie took it.
His face changed.
“Wax impression.”
“Meaning?”
Jonah asked.
“Somebody pressed it into something soft.”
Mateo went pale.
“I keep the rosary in my desk.”
“At the docks?”
“Yes.”
“Who has access?”
“My office manager.”
“Who?”
Mateo's answer came slowly.
“Gabriel Soto.”
The third person Jonah had told about the fake harbor ledgers.
Suddenly Gabriel connected both mysteries.
He knew the fake story.
He had access to Mateo's rosary.
He could reach Arturo's old locker.
And as dock manager, he benefited every time Jonah was too weak to attend operations.
Frankie stood immediately.
Jonah stopped him.
“No.”
“Boss—”
“No warning him.”
Jonah looked at Mateo.
“When did you last see Gabriel?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“With Victor coming here today?”
“Yes.”
Jonah's expression hardened.
“Bring him in quietly.”
Mateo left.
Stella watched Jonah stare at his hands.
For once, he did not look angry.
He looked hopeful.
He hated that too.
She understood.
Hope was dangerous after six months of being told what his body would never do again.
She placed his coffee near his right hand.
“Try.”
He looked at the cup.
Then at her.
“I'm tired.”
“You're terrified.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Don't psychoanalyze me.”
“Fine. Drink your coffee.”
He reached.
His fingers trembled around the handle.
The cup lifted half an inch.
Then an inch.
His hand shook violently.
Stella did not touch him.
Did not rescue him.
Jonah slowly brought the cup to his mouth.
One sip.
He lowered it.
Coffee sloshed onto the saucer.
His eyes were wet.
He looked furious about that too.
Stella smiled.
“The coffee still tastes terrible.”
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
A low, startled sound.
Then Frankie's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
Jonah asked.
Frankie lowered the phone.
“Gabriel's office is empty.”
Mateo had found one thing behind.
A harbor access badge.
There was blood on it.
And beneath it sat Stella's nursing certificate.
The certificate that had been inside her tote bag the day she first walked through Jonah's gates.
May you like
Somebody had taken it without her knowing.
And placed it inside the office of the man they now suspected of betraying Jonah.
