Chapter 3: The Doctor Who Knew Too Much
By eight the next morning, Luca had turned his private study into an interrogation room.
The curtains were closed.
The television was off.
Every phone belonging to his senior men had been collected at the door.
On the long table in front of him lay three folders: the original accident report, his medical records, and the photograph Maya had found beneath the dugout bench.
Marco stood beside the window.
Nobody spoke.
Then the study doors opened.
Dr. Victor Shaw entered wearing a dark overcoat and carrying a leather medical bag.
He looked older than Luca remembered.
That irritated Luca.
He had spent twelve years watching the man on screens, in consultations, in hospital rooms. Victor's hair had turned almost completely gray, but his voice remained the same.
Measured.
Comforting.
Certain.
“Luca,” he said.
Luca looked at him.
“Sit down.””
Shaw glanced at the chair opposite the desk.
“I'd rather stand.””
“You'll sit.””
Shaw hesitated.
Then he did.
Marco closed the doors.
Luca slid the photograph across the desk.
Victor looked at it.
The change in his expression lasted less than a second.
But Luca saw it.
So did Marco.
“You recognize it,” Luca said.
Shaw's eyes returned to the photograph.
“It's an old picture.””
“That wasn't my question.””
“I recognize the people.””
“Why were you standing with my brother and me?””
“I don't remember.””
“You've seen it.””
“No.””
“Why does it say, ‘He must never know’ on the back?””
Shaw leaned back.
“I have no idea.””
Luca smiled.
It wasn't a friendly smile.
“That's interesting.””
“What is?””
“You answered before I told you what the photograph said.””
Silence.
Shaw's face tightened.
Luca leaned forward.
“Who told you?””
“No one.””
“Then how did you know?””
Shaw looked at Marco.
“Is this a legal interrogation?””
“No,” Luca said.
“It's worse.””
Shaw said nothing.
Luca opened the first folder.
“According to my medical records, my spinal injury was catastrophic. According to every specialist you recommended, recovery was impossible.””
“Yes.””
“You said that.””
“Yes.””
“You said my spinal cord showed no meaningful response.””
“Yes.””
“You said physical therapy could improve my strength but never restore independent movement.””
“Yes.””
Luca opened the second folder.
“This was written three days after my accident.””
Shaw didn't move.
“Read it.””
“I know my own report.””
“Read it.””
Shaw's eyes dropped.
Luca watched him.
The report stated that the initial neurological examination showed severe motor loss but incomplete sensory impairment.
Shaw stared at the page.
“You see it?”” Luca asked.
“I see the wording.””
“What does it mean?””
“It means there were signs that your injury was incomplete.””
Marco's face hardened.
Luca's voice remained quiet.
“You told me it was complete.””
Shaw looked up.
“Your condition evolved.””
“Did it?””
“Yes.””
“Then why don't the records show another neurological exam until six months later?””
Shaw's jaw tightened.
“There were complications.””
“Which complications?””
“Inflammation.””
“Where?””
Shaw paused.
Luca knew then.
The pause was the answer.
“You didn't examine me again for six months.””
“That isn't true.””
“It's in the records.””
“I supervised your care.””
“You delegated it.””
“I was your physician.””
“You were the physician my family trusted.””
Shaw leaned forward.
“Luca, you're looking backward through incomplete memories and fragmented records. You survived a devastating injury. Trauma can alter memory.””
Luca felt something cold settle in his chest.
“You're saying I imagined it.””
“No.””
“You're saying I'm confused.””
“I'm saying you're searching for a pattern because you're struggling with what happened.””
Luca smiled faintly.
“That's exactly what you told me twelve years ago.””
Shaw went still.
Luca closed the folder.
“Did Adrian know?””
The room changed.
Victor's eyes flickered.
“Know what?””
“That my paralysis might not have been permanent.””
“I don't know.””
“You've just lied to me twice.””
“I haven't.””
Luca pressed a button on the side of his desk.
A screen lit up.
On it was footage from a security camera.
The western dugout.
Maya and Tommy entering the field the previous afternoon.
The image zoomed in.
Tommy was lifting the loose panel.
Maya was reaching underneath.
Then she pulled out the photograph.
Luca paused the video.
“You recognize the location.””
“Yes.””
“The photograph was hidden there.””
“I see.””
“Why would someone hide evidence of an accident at my own home?””
Shaw stared at the screen.
“I don't know.””
Luca nodded.
“Good.””
Shaw looked confused.
“You don't believe me?””
“No,” Luca said.
“But now I know you're afraid.””
Shaw's face lost color.
Marco took one step forward.
Shaw stood.
“I'm leaving.””
Luca didn't stop him.
Instead, he said, “What did you do to my legs?””
Shaw stopped at the door.
His back remained toward Luca.
Nothing moved for several seconds.
Then he turned.
“I treated your injuries.””
“No.””
Luca's voice was softer.
“What did you do after you treated them?””
Shaw's eyes met his.
“For twelve years, I kept you alive.””
“You kept me broken.””
The doctor's expression cracked.
Only briefly.
But this time, Luca saw it clearly.
It was guilt.
Or fear.
Perhaps both.
Shaw opened the door.
Before leaving, he said, “You don't understand what you're looking for.””
Luca stared at him.
“Then explain it.””
Shaw shook his head.
“Some truths don't save people.””
He walked out.
The door closed.
Marco waited.
Luca looked toward him.
“Follow him.””
“Already doing it.””
Marco touched his earpiece and began issuing orders.
Luca turned toward the medical records again.
His hands felt colder than they had that morning.
“What else is missing?””
Marco looked at him.
“We have the original hospital records.””
“Not all of them.””
“What makes you think that?””
Luca pointed to the signature page.
“Because Victor signed this one.””
“So?””
“The ink is wrong.””
Marco frowned.
“You can tell that?””
“I know his signature.””
Luca pointed to the bottom of the page.
“Victor always used black ink.””
“This is blue.””
Marco leaned closer.
“Could be the hospital.””
“No.””
Luca opened another report.
“Same day. Same document type. Same hospital. Black ink.””
He looked up.
“Somebody reproduced his signature.””
Marco's expression darkened.
“Then these records may have been altered.””
“Exactly.””
A knock came at the door.
Elena entered.
Her face looked frightened.
“Maya is missing.””
Luca's entire expression changed.
“What?””
“She was in the kitchen ten minutes ago.””
“Where is she now?””
“I don't know.””
Marco was already calling security.
“Lock the property.””
Every guard moved at once.
Luca wheeled toward the hall.
Elena followed him.
“She wouldn't leave without telling me.””
“Did she say anything strange?””
Elena hesitated.
“She asked about Dr. Shaw.””
Luca stopped.
“What did she ask?””
“She wanted to know why the doctor looked angry.””
“When?””
“After the photograph.””
Luca felt his stomach tighten.
“What else?””
Elena swallowed.
“She said he reminded her of someone.””
“Who?””
“I don't know.””
They reached the kitchen.
Maya's cup was still on the table.
Half full.
Her broken backpack lay beneath a chair.
Luca looked around.
There were no signs of a struggle.
That somehow made it worse.
“Find her,” he said.
Ten minutes later, Marco returned.
No Maya.
No trace.
Then one of the guards shouted from outside.
Luca rushed to the window.
A black sedan was moving down the private road.
“Stop it.””
The gate began closing.
The sedan accelerated.
A guard raised his hand.
The gate slammed down behind the vehicle.
It never stopped.
Marco ran outside.
Luca watched through the glass.
The sedan disappeared around the bend.
Then Marco's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?””
He listened.
Then looked directly at Luca.
“We found the car.””
“Where?””
“Empty.””
Luca's hands tightened around the wheels.
“Where's Maya?””
“We don't know.””
Elena made a sound behind them.
She covered her mouth.
“No.””
Luca turned toward her.
“What is it?””
She looked at him with tears forming in her eyes.
“I know who took her.””
Luca stared.
“Who?””
Elena's lips trembled.
“Samuel Pike.””
“Samuel Pike is dead.””
“He was supposed to be.””
Marco went silent.
Elena continued.
“He came to me six months ago.””
“Why?””
“He said someone was looking for him.””
“Who?””
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.””
“You do.””
She looked toward the floor.
“I knew this day would come.””
Luca moved closer.
“Elena.””
She finally looked up.
“Samuel told me your accident wasn't an accident.””
Luca's eyes hardened.
“What exactly did he say?””
“He said your brother found something.””
“What?””
“He didn't tell me.””
“Why?””
“He said Adrian made him promise that if anything happened to him, he would protect you.””
Luca stared at her.
“Protect me from who?””
Elena's voice dropped to a whisper.
“From the people inside your family.””
The room fell silent.
Marco looked at Luca.
Luca looked toward the photograph still lying on the desk.
Adrian.
Victor.
Himself.
Three men.
One secret.
And now a little girl was missing because she had happened to find a buried piece of it.
Luca reached for the photograph.
On the front, Adrian was smiling.
But Luca noticed something he had never noticed before.
Adrian's left hand was clenched.
His knuckles were white.
He was holding something.
Luca enlarged the image on the screen.
A key.
Exactly like the brass key Maya had found.
Number 317.
Marco stared.
“Warehouse three.””
Luca shook his head.
“No.””
“What?””
“That warehouse didn't disappear.””
Marco looked at him.
Luca's eyes hardened.
“Someone wanted us to believe it did.””
He turned toward the door.
“Get the jet ready.””
Marco followed.
“Where are we going?””
Luca looked back once.
“To the warehouse that officially ceased to exist ten years ago.””
Outside, thunder rolled over the lake.
And somewhere in the city, a frightened little girl was being taken toward a secret that had already destroyed one Costello brother.
Luca intended to make sure it didn't destroy another.
But before he reached the garage, his phone rang.
There was no number on the screen.
Luca answered.
For three seconds, there was only static.
Then a man's voice whispered:
“Your brother didn't fail to save you, Luca.””
A pause.
“He chose you over himself.””
The line went dead.
Luca lowered the phone.
Marco stared at him.
“What did he say?””
Luca looked toward the black sky.
“He said Adrian chose me.””
May you like
Then, in a voice colder than either of them had heard in years, Luca added,
“Now I'm going to find out who made him pay for it.””
