Chapter 6 - The Medicine Cabinet
The laboratory report arrived the next morning.
Maya read it twice before entering Victor’s office.
He was working from the mansion again because Adrian insisted the company tower had become an uncontrolled environment.
Victor disagreed loudly.
He stayed home anyway.
Maya placed the report on his desk.
“The pills match the label.”
Victor looked up.
“So nothing.”
“No.”
She pointed to the concentration.
“They are legitimate medication. The problem is the dosage.”
The unauthorized prescription doubled his muscle relaxant.
Enough to cause significant sedation, slowed speech, dizziness, and confusion, particularly when combined with his pain medication.
Victor leaned back.
“How long?”
“Pharmacy records show the dosage change started eleven weeks ago.”
“That’s when Vanessa began complaining I was impossible to talk to.”
Maya sat opposite him.
“Did you feel different?”
“I felt exhausted.”
“Confused?”
“Sometimes.”
“Memory problems?”
Victor hesitated.
“Yes.”
The admission cost him something.
Maya did not soften her expression.
That helped.
“I thought it was recovery,” he said.
“Anyone would.”
“I should have noticed.”
“You were recovering from a major spinal injury while running a corporation.”
“That is not an excuse.”
“It isn’t supposed to be.”
Victor looked at her.
“You enjoy disagreeing with me.”
“No.”
“You do.”
“I enjoy when facts disagree with you.”
He shook his head.
Then his expression became serious.
“Who changed the prescription?”
“The portal login originated from an IP address associated with a private network.”
“Richard?”
“Not enough to say.”
Adrian entered carrying a folder.
“Now we have more.”
He dropped the papers onto the desk.
Victor read them.
A medical consulting company called Brighton Recovery Services had billed Hale Industries for executive medical coordination.
$146,000.
Victor had never heard of it.
Adrian continued.
“Brighton’s managing member is an attorney who shares office space with one of Richard’s shell companies.”
Maya frowned.
“They paid a company connected to Richard to coordinate Victor’s treatment?”
“Indirectly.”
Victor’s eyes darkened.
“And Brighton contacted my pharmacy?”
“We’re subpoenaing records.”
Maya folded her hands.
“They needed him sedated.”
Adrian nodded.
“Or wanted the side effects documented.”
Victor understood.
Create confusion.
Record it.
Obtain witness statements.
Use the footage in court.
Then argue incapacity.
It was not one dramatic crime.
It was dozens of small acts arranged into a story.
That frightened him more.
A knock came at the door.
Victor’s house manager, Evelyn Grant, entered.
She had worked for Victor for nine years and looked deeply uncomfortable.
“Mr. Hale, Ms. Vanessa is at the gate.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Tell her to leave.”
“She says she needs to collect personal belongings.”
“Ship them.”
“She also says she needs to speak with you.”
“No.”
Maya watched him.
Victor noticed.
“Don’t.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You’re about to.”
“She signed the affidavit.”
“Yes.”
“So maybe you should hear why.”
“I know why.”
“Do you?”
“She wanted money.”
“Then hearing her might tell you who paid.”
Adrian nodded.
“She has a point.”
Victor glared at both of them.
Ten minutes later Vanessa entered the study.
She no longer looked glamorous.
She looked tired.
Her red handbag was gone.
She wore jeans and a gray coat.
Victor did not invite her to sit.
“You have five minutes.”
Vanessa looked at Maya.
“I want privacy.”
“No.”
“Victor.”
“No.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I never knew about the cameras.”
Victor’s face showed nothing.
“Four minutes.”
“I signed the affidavit because Monique’s attorney told me it was about protecting your medical care.”
Victor laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“They paid me.”
Maya looked sharply at her.
“How much?”
Vanessa’s eyes lowered.
“Fifty thousand.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“For what?”
“My time. Information.”
“What information?”
“Your routine.”
Maya felt anger rise.
Vanessa continued quickly.
“They asked when you slept, when you took medication, who visited, when you worked.”
Victor’s fingers tightened.
“You sold my schedule.”
“I thought it was for the divorce.”
“You weren’t part of my divorce.”
“I was tired of being dragged into it!”
“So you took fifty thousand dollars?”
“I needed money.”
Victor stared at her expensive watch.
Vanessa saw his look.
“I owed people.”
“Then sell a handbag.”
Her face crumpled.
“For once, Victor, stop acting like money solves everything just because you have too much of it.”
The words landed differently than she intended.
Victor’s anger became quieter.
“Who approached you?”
“Monique.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Directly?”
“At first.”
“And Richard?”
Vanessa looked away.
Victor leaned forward.
“Did Richard pay you?”
“No.”
“Did you speak to him?”
Silence.
“Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
Maya watched Victor’s face change.
“How many times?”
“Three.”
“About what?”
“Your medication. Your mood. Whether you were still signing documents yourself.”
Victor felt sick.
“Did you ever give him access to my tablet?”
“No.”
“Think.”
Vanessa shook her head.
Then stopped.
“There was one night.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“What night?”
“After you came home from the hospital. You were asleep. Richard said he needed a file from your device because payroll couldn’t close.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What did you do?”
“I unlocked the bedroom.”
Victor stared at her.
“He already knew your tablet password,” Vanessa whispered.
The room became silent.
Victor’s anger disappeared.
Something worse replaced it.
“When?”
Vanessa gave the date.
Adrian checked his records.
It was the same night Victor’s digital signature authorized the cancellation of the internal audit.
Vanessa began crying.
“I didn’t know.”
Victor looked at her.
“No.”
His voice was calm.
“You didn’t want to know.”
Vanessa flinched.
Maya watched him carefully.
Victor could have destroyed her.
Instead he said, “Give Adrian everything. Messages. Payments. Names.”
Vanessa nodded.
As she turned to leave, Maya noticed something in her coat pocket.
A white envelope.
Vanessa hesitated.
Then handed it to Victor.
“Monique sent this yesterday.”
Victor opened it.
Inside was a draft statement for Vanessa to sign after the capacity evaluation.
It declared Victor mentally unfit to manage his personal or corporate affairs.
At the bottom was a proposed payment.
$250,000.
Victor looked up.
Vanessa’s voice trembled.
“She wanted me to finish what I started.”
Victor folded the document.
“Are you going to?”
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“No.”
Then she looked at him with the first honest expression he had seen from her in months.
“But someone else already did.”
Victor frowned.
“Who?”
Vanessa whispered the name of a doctor Victor trusted.
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And for the first time, the conspiracy reached beyond his marriage and his company.
It had entered his medical records.
