Chapter 13 - The Abandoned Clinic
The clinic stood forty miles outside the city.
Its windows were boarded.
Its sign had faded almost completely.
Nathan parked near the rear entrance.
Police had been notified, but he did not want to wait.
Ethan hated the decision.
Vanessa insisted on coming.
Margaret stayed in the car.
Inside, dust covered the halls.
Old examination rooms stood empty.
Vanessa led them downstairs.
“There.”
A metal door had recently been opened.
Fresh scratches marked the lock.
Ethan pushed it aside.
The basement contained shelves of old patient files.
Most had been destroyed by moisture.
One room at the end was different.
New locks.
New lighting.
New equipment.
Nathan entered.
On the wall hung photographs of Charles Cole.
Dozens of them.
Some from newspapers.
Some private.
Some taken without his knowledge.
Vanessa whispered,
“Adrian did this.”
Ethan examined a desk.
“He’s been working here for years.”
Nathan found a folder labeled EVELYN.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Adrian Mercer.
Mother: Evelyn Marie Mercer.
Father: blank.
Nathan frowned.
“This isn’t what Margaret described.”
Ethan found another document.
A handwritten letter.
Evelyn’s writing filled several pages.
Nathan read the first paragraph.
Charles,
You know Adrian is not yours.
Nathan stopped.
Vanessa stared at him.
Ethan took the letter.
He read further.
Evelyn wrote that Charles had protected her after another man abandoned her.
Charles had sent money because he felt responsible for introducing Evelyn to that man.
Not because Adrian was his child.
Nathan looked around the room.
“Adrian built his entire life around a lie.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Maybe somebody gave him the lie.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Nathan turned.
A shadow moved past the doorway.
Ethan ran after it.
“Stop.”
Footsteps thundered upstairs.
Nathan followed.
They reached the lobby just as the rear door slammed.
Outside, a car engine roared.
Ethan returned seconds later.
“Gone.”
Vanessa stood near the staircase.
Then she noticed something beside the door.
A small envelope.
Nathan’s name was written across it.
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Nathan and Ethan as children.
On the back were four words.
Ask Ethan about Zurich.
Nathan looked at his brother.
Ethan stopped moving.
Vanessa saw his expression.
“You know what that means.”
Nathan’s voice became quiet.
“Ethan?”
Ethan looked toward the empty road.
Then back at Nathan.
“I went to Zurich three years ago.”
Nathan stared.
“When Richard Vale supposedly died?”
Ethan nodded.
Nathan felt anger rising again.
“Why?”
May you like
Ethan answered slowly.
“Because Richard called me the night before his death was announced.”
