Chapter 12 - THE DOCTOR'S DEAL
Dr. Benson had arrived claiming Noah needed a follow-up blood test.
Sarah noticed something wrong immediately.
He had come alone.
No medical assistant.
No equipment case.
And he kept asking whether Mark had returned.
Sarah refused to let him enter Noah’s room.
Benson became angry.
Then frightened.
Then he tried to leave.
Security stopped him.
Police searched his vehicle.
Inside was a refrigerated medical transport box.
The label claimed it contained vaccines.
It did not.
Detective Ortiz called Mark.
“The substances are sedatives.”
Mark’s face hardened.
“Enough to kill a baby?”
“We do not know yet.”
Benson was arrested.
Within hours, he asked for a lawyer.
Then he asked for a deal.
He confessed that Robert Keller had approached him two months earlier.
At first, the request seemed harmless.
Provide copies of Noah’s medical records.
Then falsify a diagnosis.
Then prepare documentation suggesting Noah required temporary placement at a private care facility.
Benson claimed he never intended to hurt the child.
Sarah did not believe him.
Neither did Mark.
Benson admitted Victoria paid him two hundred thousand dollars.
He also admitted something worse.
Daniel’s medical records had been altered after his death.
“What records?” Ortiz asked.
“The toxicology report.”
Mark stared.
“The report showed no drugs.”
Benson looked down.
“That was after the change.”
“What was there originally?”
“A sedative.”
The room went silent.
Daniel had been drugged before the crash.
Emily had likely been asleep in the passenger seat.
Daniel had driven a vehicle with compromised brakes while under the effects of a sedative.
The accident had not been spontaneous.
It had been engineered.
“Who gave it to him?” Mark asked.
Benson shook his head.
“I do not know.”
“Who asked you to alter the report?”
“Charles Vance.”
Mark leaned forward.
“Where is he?”
Benson hesitated.
“I met him twice at a house in Connecticut.”
Police searched the address.
The house was empty.
But inside they found stacks of shredded documents.
A fireplace contained recent ash.
And one security photograph.
Charles Vance had left the property less than thirty minutes before police arrived.
Someone was warning him.
Ortiz checked phone logs again.
This time, the leak came from a number registered to a Reed Capital board member.
Henry Walsh.
Mark recognized the name.
Henry had been his father’s oldest friend.
Sarah watched Mark receive the news.
Every revelation removed another person he thought he knew.
“How many people can Richard buy?”
Sarah asked.
Mark looked exhausted.
“Apparently enough.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Mark looked at her.
“Not everyone.”
She pointed toward Noah.
“They could not buy Daniel.”
She pointed at herself.
“They could not buy me.”
May you like
Then she looked at him.
“And they have not bought you.”
