Chapter 2 - The Ghost of Phoenix
Sitting in the sterile brightness of Sienna’s hospital office, the reality of what was happening began to set in. Sienna locked the heavy oak door behind us, sliding a toxicology report across her desk.
“The concentration in the sample you brought matches the levels in your blood, Nora,” Sienna said gently, handing me a warm cup of plain water. “Whoever was doing this was calculating the dosage precisely. Just enough to keep you chronically ill, weak, and dependent, but not enough to trigger an immediate crisis that would land you in the ER.”
“Why?” I choked out, tears finally spilling over. “Eleanor loved me. Or so she pretended. I funded her life, her medical bills, her trips to Phoenix…”
Sienna paused, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the pharmacy receipt I had laid out. “Speaking of Phoenix… have you ever actually verified what she was doing on those trips?”
My breath hitched. “She said she was visiting her sister.”
“Let’s check who David Vance is,” Sienna said, spinning her computer monitor toward herself. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, tapping into a national medical and pharmacy database accessible through her hospital credentials.
After a few tense minutes, a profile popped up on the screen.
David Vance. Age 52. Licensed Pharmacist. Location: Phoenix, Arizona.
I leaned closer. Next to his name was a photo of a balding, middle-aged man with sharp, cold eyes. But what caught my attention wasn’t his face—it was his connection history. Linked right beneath his profile was a secondary name, highlighted in bold text: Eleanor Vance-Miller.
“Vance-Miller?” I muttered. “Eleanor told me her maiden name was Miller. She said Vance was just a childhood neighbor.”
“Nora,” Sienna said slowly, turning to face me with absolute horror in her eyes. “David Vance isn’t her neighbor. He’s her son. Her other son. Julian has a brother.”
The room seemed to spin. Julian never mentioned a brother. He had always told me he was an only child, and that his father had passed away when he was a toddler. Why would Eleanor lie about having another child? And why would that child be funneling illegal immunosuppressants across state lines?
May you like
My phone buzzed violently on the desk. It was an incoming call from Julian.
“Nora, please pick up. We need to talk. It’s not what you think.”
