Chapter 3 - THE MEDICINE IN THE LOCKED CABINET
Matteo did not call Dr. Corbin.
He called three people instead.
An independent pediatric toxicologist.
A physician from Northwestern Memorial who had never treated the Varric family.
And the police detective already assigned to the forged-badge intrusion.
Daniel collected every bottle of Nico’s medication in sealed evidence bags.
Nobody destroyed anything.
Nobody threatened Bellweather.
Nobody called Matteo’s uncle.
That last decision surprised everyone.
Including Matteo.
His uncle, Lorenzo Varric, controlled Varric Freight’s pharmaceutical logistics division.
If the ingredients on Mara’s files came through Varric Freight, Lorenzo would know more than anyone.
Old Matteo would have summoned him before dawn.
Old Matteo would have locked the door.
Asked questions.
Decided guilt by silence.
Instead, he waited.
Liana sat with Nico in the nursery.
“Do you want me to go?”
Matteo looked at his son gripping her finger.
“No.”
“That wasn't an order?”
“No.”
She almost smiled.
Then Nico made a small whining sound.
Liana touched his stomach.
“He’s hurting.”
“How do you know?”
“My son used to pull his knees up the same way.”
Matteo looked.
Nico had done that for weeks.
The nanny called it separation anxiety.
Corbin called it emotional dysregulation after the attempted intrusion.
Matteo had believed them.
Because they were professionals.
Because admitting he did not understand his own son frightened him.
The toxicologist arrived at 2:07 a.m.
Dr. Naomi Park.
Forty-six.
No patience for intimidation.
She examined Nico.
Reviewed the bottle.
Then said:
“He goes to the hospital.”
Matteo stood.
“What did you find?”
“I found enough symptoms to justify urgent bloodwork.”
“Do it here.”
“No.”
He stared.
She stared back.
Then Liana said quietly:
“Take him.”
Matteo looked at her.
Not because she had authority.
Because she was right.
Twenty minutes later, a three-car convoy left the estate.
No sirens.
No spectacle.
Liana did not expect to go.
Nico refused to release her uniform.
Dr. Park finally said:
“She comes.”
At the hospital, Nico’s tests showed abnormal levels of the medication.
Not immediately fatal.
Dangerous.
The compounding concentration appeared significantly higher than the prescription.
Matteo sat beside the crib.
His face had become stone.
Dr. Park said:
“If the dose had continued…”
She stopped.
“How long?”
he asked.
“Impossible to say.”
“Could he have died?”
“Yes.”
No dramatic language.
Just yes.
Matteo looked toward Liana.
She had gone white.
“What?”
he asked.
“That’s what they told me after Elias died.”
Her voice disappeared.
“A medication reaction.”
“But they said there was no way to prove it because he had been sick before.”
She covered her face.
“I believed them.”
Matteo stood.
“Liana.”
“I kept giving it to him.”
“You followed the prescription.”
“I held him down when he spit it out.”
Her voice cracked.
“I told him it would make him feel better.”
Matteo understood guilt.
Not hers.
His own.
Still, he knew what people said when they wanted pain to stop.
It wasn't your fault.
He did not say that.
Not because she was at fault.
Because grief rarely believes absolution offered too quickly.
Instead:
“You didn't know.”
Liana looked at him.
“No.”
“You know now.”
It was a strange thing to say.
But she nodded.
At 3:40 a.m., police reached Bellweather Pharmacy.
Management cooperated publicly.
Privately, records were missing.
One employee had already disappeared.
Mara Graves.
Still missing.
Then Daniel called Matteo.
“We found her car.”
Liana stood.
“Where?”
“Parking garage near Union Station.”
“When?”
“Abandoned nineteen days ago.”
Her handbag remained inside.
Phone gone.
No blood.
No sign of violence.
But on the passenger seat was an envelope.
Addressed to Liana.
Police opened it with her consent.
Inside:
Li,
I know you're angry. You should be. I pushed too hard after Elias died because I needed someone to blame before I had proof.
But I have proof now.
If I disappear, do not come looking alone.
There are people involved who do not know you exist yet. Keep it that way.
And please remember one thing.
You did not fail Elias by trusting his doctors.
They failed both of you if they gave you something dangerous and called it medicine.
Mara
Liana collapsed into a chair.
Matteo stood several feet away.
He did not touch her.
He wanted to.
That surprised him.
He did not.
Then Daniel continued over the phone.
“There’s another thing.”
“What?”
“We reviewed the service entrance footage from the night Mara entered.”
“Yes.”
“She didn't come alone.”
Matteo became still.
“A car dropped her two blocks away.”
“Plate?”
“Registered to Varric Freight.”
Liana looked up.
Matteo’s expression changed.
“Who signed the vehicle out?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Your late wife's former driver.”
Matteo stopped breathing.
“Samuel Dorne?”
“Yes.”
Samuel had vanished seven months earlier.
The week after Bianca Varric died.
Matteo had assumed the man left Chicago because grief and fear made remaining near the family unbearable.
May you like
Apparently he had never really left.
And by dawn, Matteo understood that Nico’s medicine, Mara’s disappearance, and his late wife’s final months were beginning to point toward the same place.
