Chapter 9 - The Doctor Who Signed for Him
Hannah wanted to confront Nicholas immediately.
Walter stopped her.
"Evidence first. Rage later."
"He deserves to know."
"He deserves to stay alive long enough to know everything."
They compromised.
Nicholas saw the brake invoice, Rebecca's notebook, and the photographs. He did not see the names of the shell companies Walter believed were still dangerous.
For almost a minute, Nicholas said nothing.
Then he picked up a glass from the table and threw it into the fireplace.
"Eight months," he said. "Eight months I thanked Claire for staying."
Hannah did not flinch.
"Now you stop thanking her and start thinking."
He looked at her.
"You talk to everyone like this?"
"Only people who throw glass indoors."
Nicholas laughed once, bitterly.
They arranged an independent neurological evaluation under the pretense of a legal insurance review. Walter chose a physician outside Nicholas's usual hospital network.
Dr. Priya Shah spent two hours examining him.
"Your injury is serious," she said. "I am not promising you will walk normally. I am saying the record describing your injury as completely nonresponsive is inconsistent with what I am seeing today."
Nicholas swallowed.
"So the reports were wrong?"
"Or outdated. Or incomplete. I need new imaging."
She reviewed his medication list.
Then she frowned.
"Who prescribed this sedating agent?"
Hannah leaned closer.
"That isn't on the current list."
"It appears repeatedly in the hospital record."
Nicholas's face darkened.
"I never agreed to it."
Dr. Shah turned the monitor toward them.
There were six medication authorizations bearing Nicholas's electronic signature.
He stared at them.
"That's not mine."
Hannah felt the room narrow.
"Can you show the access log?"
Dr. Shah clicked through the record.
The authorizations had been entered from the office of Dr. Lawrence Merritt, Nicholas's longtime physician.
The same physician who had declared his neurological condition essentially hopeless.
The same physician Rebecca had written about.
Then Dr. Shah opened a second tab.
"There are also three rehabilitation cancellations signed by you."
Nicholas shook his head.
"I canceled nothing."
"The most recent one was last month."
Hannah read the digital signature line.
N. VALENTI.
Below it was an attached authorization document.
She opened the scanned page.
The signature was almost perfect.
Almost.
Nicholas stared at it, then at Hannah.
"Claire has my pen."
"What pen?"
"My father's fountain pen. I only use it for legal documents."
Hannah remembered the silver case, the pills, the canceled specialists, the fake signatures.
Dr. Shah's office phone rang.
She answered, listened, and slowly looked toward Nicholas.
"Mr. Valenti," she said, "your fiancee is downstairs with two security men. She says you were brought here against medical advice."
May you like
Nicholas's expression turned to ice.
"She wasn't supposed to know where we were."
