Chapter 8 - The Name in My Mother's Notebook
My mother's notebook had been sitting in a cardboard box in our basement for eight months.
I had never read it.
Grief had made me afraid of her handwriting.
Now every page felt like a voice from the dead.
Victor, Ethan, and I sat inside a police command room while officers searched for Margaret.
I turned page after page.
Grocery lists.
Doctor appointments.
Passwords crossed out.
Then initials.
M.K.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Martin Keene.
Dates beside them.
Addresses.
One phrase repeated three times:
HE KNOWS CHARLES ISN'T THE TOP.
Victor leaned closer.
"What does that mean?"
I kept reading.
Another sentence:
THE DOCTOR IS STILL RUNNING IT.
Ethan whispered, "What doctor?"
The next page answered him.
DR. GIDEON VALE.
Victor stopped breathing.
I looked at him.
"Vale?"
His face went white.
"My brother."
Silence.
Ethan stared.
"You have a brother?"
Victor did not answer immediately.
"Gideon was a research cardiologist."
"At Cole Medical?"
"Until 2001."
I felt anger rise.
"You knew?"
"I knew he worked there. I did not know he was involved in the trials."
"Where is he now?"
Victor's jaw tightened.
"He runs a private clinic outside Concord."
I looked at the threat note.
OLD CLINIC.
Victor saw it too.
"No."
"What?"
"That building used to belong to Gideon."
Police were already moving.
We drove in a convoy.
Snow thickened on the highway.
Ethan sat beside me.
His knee bounced uncontrollably.
I touched it.
He stopped.
"She's done terrible things to you," he said.
"Yes."
"And you're still coming."
"I'm coming because I'm done letting this family decide who I become."
He looked at me.
That sentence changed something between us.
The old clinic stood empty behind a line of dead trees.
No lights.
One rear door open.
Inside, the halls smelled like bleach.
Fresh bleach.
We found Margaret in an examination room.
Tied to a chair.
Alive.
No Charles.
No Gideon.
A laptop sat on the counter.
Screen on.
Video call connected.
A man appeared.
Late sixties.
Thin face.
Silver glasses.
Victor whispered, "Gideon."
His brother smiled.
"Hello, Victor."
Victor stepped forward.
"Where are you?"
"Far enough."
Ethan cut in.
"What do you want?"
Gideon ignored him.
He looked at me through the camera.
"Claire Parker."
My skin crawled.
"You look like Linda."
"You knew my mother."
"Very well."
"Did you kill her?"
He smiled.
"No."
I hated the relief that came too fast.
Then he added:
"But I know who did."
The clinic lights went out.
A door slammed behind us.
And the laptop screen displayed a timer.
TEN MINUTES TO DECONTAMINATION.
May you like
Victor whispered one word.
"Run.
