Chương 7
Adrian had signed it because reading forty pages of governance language felt less important than getting back into bed.
The proxy remained active.
He could revoke it at any time.
He never had.
Harrison watched him.
“What?”
Adrian wheeled toward his desk.
He opened the lower drawer and removed a leather file case.
The original proxy was inside.
He handed it to Harrison.
The older man read.
“This doesn’t prove anything.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“But Daniel got this three days after the study.”
“What does the proxy give him?”
“Enough influence to keep the board from asking me questions I wasn’t around to hear.”
Harrison lowered the document.
“What questions?”
Adrian looked at the window.
For the first time since Lucy had poured water over his foot, the investigation moved beyond medicine.
Six months before Adrian’s accident, Vale Meridian had begun an internal review of irregular payments to several consulting vendors.
Adrian had ordered the review himself after a junior finance manager questioned recurring invoices.
Then the crash happened.
The review was postponed.
Later Mercer told him nothing significant had been found.
Adrian had accepted that.
He had been learning how to get into a shower without falling.
Fraud seemed remote compared with the daily geometry of his own body.
Now he called the company’s general counsel.
“Send me the vendor review.”
There was a pause.
“Which version?”
Adrian sat very still.
“How many versions are there?”
Another pause.
“Adrian—”
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Send both.”
The first report was the one Adrian had seen after his accident. It found poor documentation but no evidence of intentional misconduct.
The second had never reached him.
It identified eleven million dollars in payments requiring further investigation.
Two vendors were associated with a consulting group partly owned by Daniel Mercer’s brother-in-law.
Adrian read until his eyes hurt.
Then he called Mercer.
Harrison stopped him.
“No.”
Adrian looked up.
“No?”
“Not yet.”
“He stole from me.”
“Possibly.”
“I’m going to strangle the next person who says possibly.”
“You’ll have to stand first.”
Adrian stared.
Harrison winced.
“Bad joke.”
“Very.”
“Effective, though.”
Adrian put the phone down.
Harrison sat across from him.
“If Mercer is connected to the medical records, calling him tells him what you know.”
“He already knows I’m being examined.”
“He may not know about the report.”
Adrian rubbed his face.
He was tired.
Not the familiar physical fatigue of paralysis.
Something deeper.
A tiredness that seemed to live behind his eyes.
“What if this is unrelated?”
“Then you will have been patient for twelve hours. I understand this is medically dangerous for you.”
Adrian ignored him.
The police found another piece three days later.
Evelyn spoke.
Her lawyer arranged a recorded interview.
Cho allowed Adrian to receive only a summary because the investigation was active.
He hated that.
The summary was worse.
Evelyn admitted administering injections without Adrian’s informed consent.
She said Rusk had told her they were part of a revised treatment plan intended to control nocturnal nerve pain and involuntary spasms.
At first she believed him.
Then, four months in, she questioned why the injections were not discussed with Adrian during daytime visits.
Rusk told her Adrian had become obsessive about minor sensations and that discussing each intervention would worsen his anxiety.
Harrison read that sentence and swore.
Adrian kept reading.
Two months later Evelyn saw Adrian’s right foot move during an injection.
She reported it.
Rusk told her reflex movement did not indicate recovery.
Later he increased the dose.
Evelyn continued.
“Why?” Adrian asked.
Cho was sitting in the mansion library.
“According to her, she was afraid of losing her job.”
“That’s not enough.”
“She says there was more.”
“What?”
Cho closed the folder.
“This part concerns another investigation.”
“I don’t care.”
“I know.”
“Tell me.”
“She had taken medication from a previous employer.”
Adrian stared.
“What kind?”
“Prescription pain medication.”
“She was stealing drugs?”
“Three years ago. The employer handled it internally after she entered treatment and repaid the value. No criminal charge.”
“And Rusk knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We’re looking at that.”
Adrian leaned back.
“He blackmailed her.”
“She says he reminded her that disclosure could end her nursing career.”
“She’s a licensed nurse?”
“Yes.”
Adrian had known that.
He had stopped thinking of Evelyn as anything but Evelyn.
Cho continued.
“Later, payments began.”
“To her?”
“To an account connected with her mother’s assisted-living expenses.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
Cho looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means everyone gets a sympathetic motive.”
“Sympathetic isn’t innocent.”
“She drugged me for almost a year.”
“Yes.”
“She watched me quit therapy.”
“Yes.”
“She watched me believe I would never feel my legs again.”
Cho did not answer.
Adrian’s voice rose.
“She helped me into bed every night and then put a needle in me.”
“Yes.”
The simple answer stopped him.
He looked toward the fireplace.
“I want to hate her.”
“That seems available to you.”
“I want it to be easy.”
Cho closed her notebook.
“That part may not be.”
After she left, Adrian sat alone for almost an hour.
At six, one of the new nurses reminded him about rehabilitation exercises.
He told her to leave.
At six fifteen, he called her back.
She returned without comment.
He hated that too.
The exercises were humiliating.
He could not lift his foot from the support pad.
He could barely contract the muscles below his knee.
Sweat soaked the back of his shirt.
After twenty minutes, his right ankle moved less than half an inch.
The nurse said, “Good.”
Adrian said, “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Celebrate garbage.”
She looked at him.
“Half an inch wasn’t available last week.”
“You didn’t know me last week.”
“No.”
“So don’t tell me what was available.”
She removed her gloves.
“Fine.”
He expected encouragement.
She walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“You said stop.”
“I said don’t celebrate.”
She turned.
“Then move your foot again.”
He stared at her.
She stared back.
Adrian almost smiled.
May you like
Her name was Rachel.
He learned it afterward.
