Chapter 19: The Real Doctor
Chapter 19: The Real Doctor
The conference room fell into an uneasy silence.
Dr. Amelia Brooks looked at the hospital badge sealed inside the evidence bag.
She frowned.
"That isn't my current access card."
Detective Laura Bennett studied her carefully.
"What do you mean?"
Amelia reached into the pocket of her white coat and produced another badge.
"This is."
Daniel Reyes compared the two.
"They have the same name."
"But different serial numbers," Amelia added.
Daniel immediately opened his laptop.
He scanned both cards through the hospital security database.
After several seconds, the results appeared.
The room grew quiet.
"The badge found in Linda Foster's car..."
He looked up.
"...was reported missing almost three years ago."
Marcus let out a slow breath.
"So it wasn't stolen yesterday."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"It disappeared during the east wing renovation."
Amelia nodded.
"I reported it immediately."
Bennett looked relieved, but not completely convinced.
"Why wasn't it deactivated?"
Daniel frowned.
"It should have been."
He typed another command.
Then his expression changed.
"It wasn't an oversight."
"What was it?"
"Someone manually reactivated it six months ago."
Bennett turned back to Amelia.
"Where were you last night?"
"In surgery."
"Can anyone confirm that?"
Amelia smiled faintly.
"Thirty-seven people."
"The procedure lasted nearly five hours."
Daniel quickly verified the operating room records.
Every timestamp matched.
Every member of the surgical team confirmed her presence.
Marcus finally relaxed.
"I knew it."
Khloe smiled with relief.
"I never doubted you."
Amelia looked at them gratefully.
"Thank you."
Detective Bennett wasn't finished.
She turned to Vivian.
"You said Charles thanked a doctor."
Vivian nodded.
"I did."
"Are you certain he used that word?"
"Yes."
William suddenly stood.
"Maybe we've been asking the wrong question."
Marcus looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
William walked to the conference room whiteboard.
"We assumed Charles meant a medical doctor."
He wrote one word.
DOCTOR
Then beneath it, he wrote another.
Ph.D.
Daniel's eyes widened.
"Not every doctor is a physician."
William nodded.
"Universities."
"Research."
"Laboratories."
Vivian suddenly gasped.
"Oh, no."
Everyone turned toward her.
"You remembered something."
She nodded slowly.
"There was another doctor at the hospital."
"Who?"
"A geneticist."
Daniel searched the hospital archives.
Within moments, an old employee profile appeared on the screen.
Dr. Nathan Mercer
Former Director of Molecular Genetics.
Doctorate in Human Genetics.
Retired eight years earlier.
Marcus frowned.
"I've never heard of him."
William looked troubled.
"You wouldn't have."
"He worked almost entirely behind the scenes."
Vivian stared at the photograph.
"It's him."
Bennett looked surprised.
"You recognize him?"
"He certified Grace's DNA report."
Daniel scrolled farther.
Then stopped.
"There's more."
"What?"
"He didn't actually retire."
The room fell silent.
"He resigned."
"One week after Charles Whitmore requested access to the sealed records."
Meanwhile, Linda Foster stood inside an abandoned storage room on the hospital's lower level.
She quietly spoke into a satellite phone.
"He knows."
A man's voice answered calmly.
"I expected that."
"They're looking for you now."
"So let them."
Linda hesitated.
"What about Charles?"
The voice chuckled softly.
"Charles served his purpose."
"He failed."
"No."
"He distracted them."
Linda lowered her voice.
"What should I do?"
The answer came immediately.
"Leave."
"And the report?"
"I no longer need it."
Linda frowned.
"What changed?"
The voice replied with chilling confidence.
"Because Grace is alive."
The call ended.
Linda stared at the phone.
For the first time...
She looked frightened.
An arrest warrant for Dr. Nathan Mercer was issued within the hour.
Police searched his former office.
Empty.
His laboratory.
Abandoned.
His registered home.
Vacant for nearly six years.
It was as though he had disappeared without a trace.
Until Daniel discovered one final clue.
A utility bill.
Paid only three days earlier.
For a remote research facility outside the city.
By sunset, a tactical team surrounded the isolated building.
The former laboratory sat deep in the woods behind locked security gates.
Detective Bennett addressed the officers.
"We don't know who's inside."
"Proceed carefully."
The front door was unlocked.
The team entered.
Rows of old research equipment filled the building.
Dust covered most of it.
Except...
One office.
Someone had been using it recently.
A computer remained powered on.
Coffee in a mug was still warm.
"He just left," an officer whispered.
Bennett approached the desk.
On the computer screen was a single document.
It contained only one sentence.
You were always looking at the wrong generation.
"What does that mean?" Marcus asked.
No one answered.
Then Daniel noticed a blinking notification.
An outgoing email had been scheduled.
Recipient:
Grace Carter.
Time until automatic delivery:
Five minutes.
Bennett immediately disconnected the computer from the network.
"Can you stop it?"
Daniel worked furiously.
"Trying..."
The countdown continued.
Three minutes.
Two.
One.
Daniel finally smiled.
"I got it."
The transmission failed.
Everyone sighed with relief.
Then Daniel opened the unsent attachment.
His smile disappeared.
"What is it?" William asked.
Daniel slowly turned the monitor toward them.
It wasn't a medical report.
It wasn't a financial record.
It was a family tree.
At the very top appeared the Carter family.
Halfway down...
Grace's name.
And beneath it...
A second branch.
One no one had ever seen before.
Connected to the branch was a single handwritten note:
The child isn't the final heir. Find the mother.
William stared at the screen.
His face turned pale.
"There can't be another one."
Vivian slowly lowered herself into a chair.
Her voice trembled.
"I prayed he never found her."
Marcus looked from William to Vivian.
"Found who?"
Before either of them could answer, Detective Bennett's phone rang.
She listened for only a few seconds before her expression hardened.
"Linda Foster just escaped from the hospital."
She slipped the phone back into her pocket.
"And she's driving toward someone we haven't been protecting."
The room froze.
Vivian whispered the name before anyone else could.
"Sophia..."
William closed his eyes.
May you like
After all these years...
The past had finally caught up with them.
