Chapter 4 - SIX HOURS
I slept six hours at the hotel.
Maya supervised the change in my medications, and exhaustion finally did what it had been trying to do for years.
I woke with my hand clamped around the sheet.
Daniel stood near the window, holding coffee.
“Your sister called fourteen times.”
“Any emergencies?”
“Only you not answering.”
My phone contained an email from company counsel, Martin Shaw.
Vivian had requested a special board meeting in forty-eight hours.
The stated purpose was temporary leadership continuity due to concerns about my health.
I called Martin.
“Did you know I slept last night?”
A pause.
“No.”
“Did Vivian tell you a lab found something in my drinking water?”
“No.”
“Then perhaps don’t schedule my funeral yet.”
He offered to postpone the meeting.
I told him to preserve every request and attachment first.
Daniel took me home through the service entrance.
Vivian was waiting in my study with Dr. Vale.
“You frightened your family,” he said.
“I spent a night in a hotel.”
“After abruptly rejecting treatment.”
“Which treatment?”
“The packets you prescribe,” I continued. “Can you tell me what’s actually in them?”
His fingers tightened on his briefcase.
“Your pharmacy can provide a full record.”
“Good. We’ve requested it.”
Vivian stepped forward.
“Adrian, you’re making ordinary care sound sinister.”
“I’m asking ordinary questions.”
She tried to touch my arm.
I moved away.
For the first time, hurt failed to soften her expression.
Something harder showed through.
When they left, Daniel searched the bedside cabinet with my permission.
Behind the drawer was a small wireless receiver connected to the lamp.
He unplugged it and sealed it separately.
“Could be a remote switch,” he said. “We need an examiner.”
I remembered the sharp chime that sometimes woke me just as I drifted off.
Dr. Vale had called it a symptom of stress.
Daniel checked the family tablet that controlled the house system.
An automation had been labeled REST CHECK.
It triggered the bedroom lamp and a brief tone at irregular intervals after midnight.
May you like
The administrator account wasn’t Vivian’s.
It belonged to my younger brother, Nicholas.
