Chapter 5 - GRANT HAD BEEN DRUGGED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED THE CLINICSt. Alder Behavioral Center looked more like a luxury resort than a psychiatric hospital.
Stone entrance.
Private grounds.
No visible security bars.
Families paid thousands a day for discretion.
Arthur hated it immediately.
Detective Carver came with him.
So did a state health investigator.
Grant was brought into a private consultation room.
Arthur barely recognized him.
Unshaven.
Pale.
Wearing sweatpants and a gray T-shirt.
He stood when he saw his father.
Then stopped.
Arthur opened his arms.
Grant crossed the room.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Arthur held his son.
“I’m sorry.”
Grant pulled back.
“For what?”
“For believing you went to Zurich.”
Grant gave a broken laugh.
“Vivienne is very convincing.”
“That is not an excuse.”
“No.”
Arthur appreciated that his son didn’t rescue him from guilt.
“How are you?”
“Angry.”
“Good.”
“Drugged.”
Arthur’s expression changed.
“Still?”
“They stopped the sedative yesterday after Nurse Tessa questioned the dose.”
Detective Carver sat.
“Tell us what happened from the beginning.”
Grant looked at Arthur.
“Six days ago, I found a folder in Vivienne’s desk.”
“What folder?”
“Emails with Simon Vale.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“What were they discussing?”
“Your trust documents.”
“Mine?”
“And the kids’.”
Grant rubbed his face.
“I confronted her.”
“What did she say?”
“That I misunderstood.”
“Then?”
“We had dinner.”
Arthur felt cold.
“You drank wine.”
“One glass.”
“Did she pour it?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“I started feeling strange.”
“Dizzy?”
“Yes.”
“Couldn’t focus.”
“Yes.”
“Did Harrow arrive?”
“About twenty minutes later.”
Arthur’s cane tapped against the floor.
“Why?”
“Vivienne said she’d called him because she was scared.”
“Of you?”
Grant laughed bitterly.
“I could barely stand.”
“What did Harrow do?”
“Asked if I wanted to hurt myself.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
“Did he ask about the children?”
“Yes.”
“I told him I needed to call my father.”
“Then?”
“He said I was becoming agitated.”
Arthur looked at Carver.
She wrote everything.
Grant continued.
“I remember Owen outside the door.”
“He saw you.”
Grant’s eyes closed.
“Oh God.”
“He’s safe.”
“Did he see them take me?”
“Yes.”
Grant looked sick.
“I told him to call you.”
“He tried.”
Grant looked down.
Arthur continued.
“Vivienne took his phone.”
Silence.
Grant rubbed both hands over his face.
“I brought her into that house.”
Arthur didn’t respond immediately.
Because guilt could swallow people before they became useful.
“You can deal with that later.”
Grant nodded.
“What happened after Harrow?”
“Two private medical transport guys came.”
“Did you consent?”
“No.”
“They showed me a paper.”
“Signed by you?”
“Yes.”
“Forgery?”
Grant looked at him.
“I couldn’t hold a pen.”
Arthur’s chest tightened.
Grant continued.
“I woke here.”
“What did they tell you?”
“That I’d threatened suicide and violence.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Did anyone ask Owen or Maeve?”
“Not that I know.”
Arthur looked toward the health investigator.
She appeared furious.
Grant continued.
“Vivienne came the next morning.”
“What did she want?”
“A signature.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“On what?”
“She said a temporary medical power of attorney.”
“Did you sign?”
“No.”
“She got angry.”
“Then?”
“She said, ‘If you don’t sign, Harrow can keep you here longer.’”
Detective Carver leaned forward.
“Exact words?”
“As close as I remember.”
Grant nodded toward the door.
“Nurse Tessa heard part of it.”
Carver made a note.
“What else?”
Grant swallowed.
“She asked where Elise’s recording was.”
Arthur felt his pulse jump.
“What recording?”
“I told her I didn’t know.”
“Did you?”
“Not then.”
Arthur frowned.
“What changed?”
“Nurse Tessa gave me my personal effects yesterday.”
“My wallet. Belt. Old watch.”
Grant lifted his wrist.
A vintage steel watch Elise had given him on their tenth anniversary.
“She said Vivienne wanted the watch sent home.”
Arthur looked closer.
“Why?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Then?”
“I opened the back.”
Arthur stared.
“Why?”
“Elise once told me if anything ever happened to her, I should never let anyone replace the case.”
Grant swallowed.
“I always thought she was being sentimental.”
He removed the watch.
Pressed a tiny release point.
The back popped open.
Inside was a microSD card.
Arthur stared.
“The recording?”
“Maybe.”
“Have you watched it?”
“No.”
“I didn’t have anything to read it with.”
Detective Carver immediately bagged it as potential evidence.
Grant looked frustrated.
Arthur understood.
But preserving the original mattered.
Then Grant said:
“There’s something else you need to know.”
“What?”
“Vivienne wasn’t only talking to Simon.”
Arthur’s stomach tightened.
“Who else?”
“Someone at Titan Ridge.”
The firm trying to buy Winslow Advanced Systems.
“Name?”
“Marcel Keene.”
Arthur knew him.
Senior managing director.
He had negotiated directly with Arthur for months.
“What were they discussing?”
“The merger vote.”
“Why?”
Grant stared at him.
“Because if they controlled my shares and the children’s trust, Titan Ridge would have enough votes to force the sale even if you opposed it.”
Arthur felt cold.
The deal Arthur thought he was negotiating fairly had another pathway.
A hidden one.
Then Detective Carver’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“Arthur.”
“What?”
“Lab results came back from Grant’s blood sample taken when he was admitted.”
Grant went still.
Carver continued.
“He had a high level of zolpidem and another sedating medication in his system.”
“Prescribed?”
“No.”
Arthur looked at Grant.
Drugged.
Not unstable.
Not suicidal.
Drugged.
The health investigator added:
“Dr. Harrow documented those symptoms as evidence of a psychiatric episode.”
Arthur’s anger became something colder.
“They created the symptoms.”
No one disagreed.
Then his phone buzzed again.
Unknown sender.
Another photograph.
Simon Vale entering St. Alder through a side door.
Taken two days earlier.
Below it:
He came to make sure Grant stayed quiet until the merger vote.
Arthur stared.
May you like
Whoever was sending these messages knew far too much.
And they were close enough to follow Simon.
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