Chapter 2 - The Secret Laboratory
The next few days became a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Claire continued her duties, but her mind was entirely focused on finding out what medication Vanessa was giving Noah. Grant Whitman was a mogul in medical technologies; the house was practically built on pharmaceuticals.
It was Thursday evening when the opportunity presented itself. Grant called from London, his voice sounding thin and exhausted over the speakerphone in the study. Claire was polishing the brass fixtures nearby, straining her ears to listen.
"How is his progress, Vanessa? The new neurologist I met here suggests we try a different rehabilitation therapy," Grant said.
"Oh, darling, we’ve tried everything," Vanessa sighed into the receiver, her voice dripping with manufactured sorrow. "The local doctors say his brain trauma is just too severe. Pushing him now will only cause more psychological damage. I'm managing his medication exactly as prescribed. He’s peaceful. That’s what matters."
"I trust you, Vanessa. I don't know what I'd do without you," Grant murmured before hanging up.
Claire felt a wave of disgust. Grant wasn't a bad man, but his guilt over the accident and his obsession with his company made him willfully blind. He wanted to believe his beautiful wife was a saint because the alternative was too painful to face.
Later that night, after Vanessa had retired to her master suite with her usual glass of Pinot Noir, Claire stayed late under the pretense of deep-cleaning the kitchen. Once she was certain the house was asleep, she crept toward the private study where Vanessa kept the household medical supplies locked away.
Claire had spent weeks watching where Vanessa kept her keys. She knew the silver ring was currently resting on the vanity table in Vanessa’s bedroom, but she also knew that rich people often forgot about the duplicate keys hidden in plain sight. She searched the bottom drawer of Grant’s desk, finding a small, unlabeled velvet box. Inside was a small brass key.
Her hands shook as she inserted it into the medical cabinet in the adjacent pantry. The lock turned with a soft click.
Inside were rows of standard vitamins, pain relievers, and Noah's prescribed physical therapy supplements. But hidden behind a box of gauze pads, Claire found a small, amber glass bottle with a handwritten label: N-12.
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There was no pharmaceutical brand, no doctor's name, and no dosage instructions.
Claire pulled out her phone, her fingers trembling as she took a photo of the bottle. She quickly replaced everything, locked the cabinet, and returned the duplicate key just as she heard a floorboard creak upstairs. She fled out the service door into the cold night air, realizing she had just uncovered the weapon Vanessa was using to keep Noah silent.
