Chapter 14 - The Doctor
Dr. Benjamin Harris answered his door at 1:13 in the morning.
He looked surprised to see Alessandro.
“Is everything okay?”
“No.”
Alessandro stepped inside.
Nathan and Detective Mills remained behind him.
Harris looked from one face to another.
“What is this?”
Alessandro placed a photograph on the table.
Digoxin tablets.
“You told me what was on the bread.”
“Yes.”
“You told me the dose could kill me.”
“Yes.”
“How did Isabella know the right dose?”
Harris went still.
Alessandro saw it.
“Ben.”
“I treat hundreds of patients.”
“You treat me.”
Harris looked away.
Mills spoke.
“Dr. Harris, Isabella Moretti had access to Mr. Romano’s medical records.”
“I don’t control every—”
“Your login downloaded them.”
Silence.
Alessandro felt sick.
Harris had treated his father.
His mother.
Alessandro himself.
For fifteen years.
“You knew about Dad?”
Harris closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Alessandro’s voice cracked.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you know Dominic poisoned him?”
“Yes.”
The answer was worse.
“You said nothing.”
“Dominic had evidence on me.”
“What evidence?”
Harris sat down.
“Years ago, I made a mistake.”
“What kind?”
“I was addicted to painkillers after back surgery. I wrote prescriptions under patients’ names.”
Mills watched carefully.
“Dominic found out.”
“And blackmailed you,” Alessandro said.
Harris nodded.
“He made me alter your father’s medical records after the death.”
Alessandro stared at him.
“Cause of death?”
“Heart failure.”
“But?”
Harris’s eyes filled.
“Digoxin toxicity.”
Alessandro looked away.
His father had been murdered.
And the doctor who shook his hand at the funeral had known.
“What about Isabella?”
“Dominic asked me for information.”
“You gave him my dosage?”
“I didn’t know they planned to—”
“Stop.”
Alessandro’s voice shook.
“Everybody keeps saying they didn’t know what would happen.”
He stepped closer.
“But every one of you knew enough to know it was wrong.”
Harris lowered his head.
Mills placed him under arrest.
As officers took him away, Harris turned back.
“Alessandro.”
He stopped.
“There’s something you need to know.”
“What?”
“Your father knew Dominic might kill him.”
“I found the letter.”
“No.”
Harris shook his head.
“That’s not what I mean.”
Alessandro stared.
“Then what?”
“He knew three weeks before he died.”
“Why didn’t he go to police?”
“Because Dominic threatened you.”
Alessandro felt cold.
“What?”
“Your father chose silence because Dominic said you would be next.”
Harris swallowed.
“Vittorio died protecting you.”
For several seconds, Alessandro couldn’t speak.
The anger he had carried toward his father all night shifted into something heavier.
Grief.
Regret.
Understanding too late.
His phone rang.
Detective Mills checked hers at the same moment.
She looked at Alessandro.
“They arrested Dominic.”
“Where?”
“Airport.”
“Trying to run?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro exhaled.
It was over.
Then Mills added, “But there’s a problem.”
“What now?”
“Isabella escaped custody during a hospital transfer.”
Alessandro’s stomach dropped.
His own phone lit up.
A text.
A photograph of his wedding venue.
Empty.
Dark.
May you like
Beneath it were six words.
WE STILL HAVE A WEDDING TOMORROW.
