Chapter 6 - A Doctor at the Door

Dr. Simon Vale stepped inside with a medical bag and a face arranged into practiced concern. He had cared for the Mercers for eleven years. Evelyn had trusted him with Daniel's medicines, her own blood pressure, and every small fear that comes with growing older.

Now he looked at Grant before he looked at his patients.

"What happened?" Vale asked.

"A terrible accident," Grant answered.

"He pushed us," Evelyn said. "You can examine the bruises yourself."

Vale knelt beside Daniel. "You're hypothermic. Your breathing sounds bad. We need to get you to my car."

"An ambulance is coming," Owen said.

The doctor paused. "Who called?"

"I did."

Vale's eyes narrowed a fraction. "Good initiative, son. Let me see your phone so I can tell dispatch about his condition."

Owen tucked it away. "They're already on the way."

Daniel caught Evelyn's sleeve. "Ask him about the tablets."

"What tablets?" she asked.

"The blue ones. He said they were for memory. They made my head swim."

Vale gave a gentle, polished smile. "Post-stroke confusion can be frightening."

Evelyn remembered finding Daniel asleep in the afternoon, his soup untouched. She had blamed old age. She had believed the physician when he'd called it decline.

"You drugged him," she said.

"Evelyn, please."

"You made everybody think he couldn't make decisions."

Grant moved toward Owen, who slipped around a workbench. Mara blocked the path without appearing to do it.

"Grant," she said sharply, "enough."

A distant siren floated across the water. Everyone heard it. Grant glanced at Vale. A silent decision passed between them.

Vale opened his bag and took out a syringe. "Daniel is struggling to breathe. This will calm him."

Evelyn swung the oar hard against the metal bag. It flew from his hands; glass broke on the floor. Owen ran through the rear door. Mara threw herself between Grant and the boy.

Vale rose, his pleasant expression gone. "You have no idea what you've interrupted."

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From outside, Owen yelled, "They're not cops!"

Two men in dark jackets were coming down the path, and the siren stopped abruptly.