Chapter 10 - The Night the Surgeon Became the Suspect|
The police arrived at Ethan Blake's apartment at 6:20 the following morning.
He had barely slept.
His kitchen table was covered with legal correspondence, notes from his conversations with investigators, and unopened hospital mail.
When the doorbell rang, he expected Margaret.
Instead, two detectives stood outside.
“Dr. Blake?”
“Yes.”
“Detective Aaron Brooks. This is Detective Lisa Chen.”
Ethan looked between them.
“What's going on?”
“We'd like to ask you some questions about an incident reported last night.”
“What incident?”
Brooks opened a notebook.
“An attempted assault near the Mercer Biomedical parking facility.”
Ethan frowned.
“I wasn't anywhere near that building.”
“Where were you between eleven and midnight?”
“Here.”
“Can anyone confirm that?”
Ethan hesitated.
“No.”
The detectives exchanged a glance.
Brooks continued.
“A witness identified a man matching your description near the scene.”
Ethan stared at him.
“What?”
“And security footage reportedly shows someone resembling you entering the facility.”
“That wasn't me.”
Chen studied his face.
“Do you know Marcus Voss?”
Ethan's pulse quickened.
“I know of him.”
“He was injured last night.”
Ethan took a step back.
“How badly?”
“Concussion. Broken wrist.”
“And he says I did it?”
Brooks didn't answer directly.
“We're trying to establish what happened.”
Ethan immediately understood.
Daniel had promised to ruin him.
Now a wounded employee and convenient security footage had appeared.
He called his attorney before answering further questions.
The detectives left without arresting him.
But the damage began within an hour.
A local news website published a story.
Suspended Chicago Surgeon Questioned in Alleged Assault Near Biomedical Headquarters.
By noon, the story had spread across social media.
Ethan's photograph appeared beside headlines about Angelina Parker's death.
Comments poured in.
First a little girl dies, now he's attacking people?
Why is this doctor still allowed near patients?
Doctors with money always escape consequences.
Ethan read the comments until Lauren took the phone from his hand.
“Stop.”
“They think I killed Angelina.”
“They don't know what happened.”
“Neither do I.”
Lauren sat across from him.
“Ethan, listen. You're allowed to be devastated without accepting every accusation as truth.”
He looked toward the window.
“I should have noticed the monitor discrepancy.”
“Maybe. The review will examine that.”
“I should have demanded more information before taking the case.”
“Yes,” she answered quietly. “You should have.”
He looked at her.
Lauren didn't soften the statement.
“You were handed an unfamiliar case under terrible circumstances. You tried to help. But we still have to ask whether you had what you needed to proceed safely.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“That's what I want them to do.”
Lauren studied him.
“You're finally saying that without trying to punish yourself first.”
His phone rang.
Margaret.
She sounded concerned.
“Ethan, don't speak publicly about the assault allegation.”
“I didn't touch Marcus Voss.”
“I believe you. But we need evidence.”
“What about the footage?”
“We've requested preservation through your criminal defense counsel. Let the police examine it.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Daniel is trying to turn me into the villain.”
“Then don't help him by acting impulsively.”
Meanwhile, Claire was meeting with Rebecca Monroe when she saw the news.
Her face went white.
“He did this.”
Rebecca looked up.
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
“Claire, we can't assume that.”
“He warned me he'd destroy Ethan.”
Rebecca read the article.
“Do you have evidence linking Mercer to this particular allegation?”
“No.”
“Then we investigate.”
Claire stood.
“But Ethan didn't do anything.”
Rebecca's expression remained calm.
“An accusation is not proof. Neither is your belief that Mercer arranged it. What matters is establishing what happened.”
Claire pressed her fingers against her forehead.
Then she remembered something.
“Marcus.”
Rebecca looked up.
“What about him?”
“He wears a body camera during sensitive security operations.”
“Always?”
“Not always. But Daniel requires recordings when Marcus handles internal investigations.”
“Would he wear one during an assault?”
“I don't know. But the system automatically backs up recordings.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Where?”
Claire hesitated.
“Mercer Biomedical's security archive.”
Rebecca immediately wrote it down.
That afternoon, the investigators obtained additional records through legal process.
The company provided a short security video showing a man in dark clothing approaching Marcus Voss near the parking facility.
But something was wrong.
The footage began too late.
And ended too early.
A forensic analyst noticed that the file's metadata indicated it had been exported from a longer recording.
Investigators requested the original source.
Mercer Biomedical's legal department claimed the original was unavailable due to routine system maintenance.
Rebecca was not impressed.
“Preserve every storage device associated with that recording,” she instructed.
That evening, Ethan was sitting alone when Claire called.
He answered immediately.
“How are you?”
She ignored the question.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“For what Daniel is doing to you.”
“Claire—”
“He wouldn't be attacking you if you hadn't saved me.”
Ethan leaned back.
“Don't give him credit for my decisions.”
Her voice trembled.
“He's turning your whole life upside down.”
“My life was already upside down.”
“That doesn't make this right.”
“No,” Ethan said. “It doesn't.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Claire asked a question that surprised him.
“Why did you jump?”
He looked toward the city.
“What?”
“Off the bridge. Why did you jump after me?”
“Because you were drowning.”
“You didn't know me.”
“That didn't matter.”
“You could have died.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
He remembered the cold water.
The helpless white fabric.
The impossible weight of her wedding dress.
“I didn't think about that.”
Claire was quiet.
Then she whispered, “I've spent years believing nobody would risk anything for me.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Well, somebody was wrong.”
A faint laugh escaped her.
It was the first time he'd heard her laugh without bitterness.
“I think I owe you a new watch,” she said.
Ethan glanced at his bare wrist.
“Apparently.”
“Was it expensive?”
“Painfully.”
She laughed again.
For a few seconds, the darkness surrounding them seemed less suffocating.
Then Claire grew serious.
“Ethan?”
“Yes?”
“When this is over, I want to see the river again.”
He frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I don't want the worst night of my life to be the last thing I remember about it.”
Ethan looked toward the window.
“Then we'll go back.”
She exhaled.
“Promise?”
He hesitated only a moment.
“Promise.”
After the call, Ethan received a message from an unknown number.
It contained a video attachment.
He didn't open it.
Instead, he contacted his attorney, who arranged for investigators to preserve and examine the message safely.
The next morning, they discovered what it contained.
Footage from the Mercer Biomedical parking garage.
The recording showed Marcus Voss speaking to a second man shortly before the alleged assault.
The second man wore a dark jacket.
His face was clearly visible.
It was not Ethan Blake.
Then Marcus said something that changed the entire investigation.
“Make sure the camera catches enough for them to blame the doctor.”
May you like
And the man beside him replied:
“Mercer wants Blake finished before the hearing.”
