Chapter 9 - The Children Beneath the Warehouse
The tunnel beneath the old Varric shipping warehouse smelled too clean.
That frightened Liana more than dust would have.
Dust meant abandoned.
Bleach meant someone was still working.
Naomi arrived after stabilizing Gabriel’s wound in a private emergency clinic.
Detective Helen Shaw came with her.
She was sixty-two, gray-haired, sharp-eyed, and unimpressed by Matteo Varric.
“You understand that I’m recording everything.”
She said before they entered.
Matteo looked at the body camera clipped to her jacket.
“Good.”
Helen studied him.
“That might be the first smart thing you’ve done.”
Matteo did not answer.
Nico remained with Beatrice and two guards in a secure vehicle outside.
Liana hated leaving him again.
But Grace’s note had led them here.
They moved underground.
The first room contained empty medical beds.
The second held refrigeration units.
The third contained files.
Hundreds of them.
Naomi opened one cabinet.
“Oh God.”
Helen began photographing.
“What?”
“These are adverse event reports.”
Naomi flipped through pages.
“Seizures.”
“Respiratory failure.”
“Cardiac arrest.”
She looked up.
“These never went to regulators.”
Liana searched labels.
A.
A-01.
A-02.
A-03.
Then—
A-17.
Her hand stopped.
Ava.
She opened the refrigerator.
Inside were dozens of sealed sample containers.
One label read:
GRAVES, AVA.
Her daughter’s name.
Liana stared at it.
The world disappeared.
She saw Ava laughing when bathwater touched her toes.
Ava sleeping with one hand above her head.
Ava grabbing Liana’s hair.
Ava’s tiny body in a hospital bed.
Now part of her sat inside a plastic container beneath a warehouse.
Liana’s knees weakened.
Naomi came beside her.
“Don’t touch it.”
“I know.”
“We need chain of custody.”
“I know.”
Liana’s voice broke.
“I just…”
Naomi put a hand on her shoulder.
Liana looked at the sample.
“They told me there was nothing left to test.”
Helen heard her.
“Who told you?”
“Dr. Vale.”
Helen wrote it down.
“Then we test everything.”
A sound came from deeper in the tunnel.
A cough.
Matteo raised his weapon.
Helen immediately looked at him.
“Put that away.”
“There may be armed men.”
“And there is now law enforcement present.”
“One retired detective.”
Helen gave him a cold smile.
“You’d be surprised how annoying I can become.”
Rafe almost smiled.
They followed the sound.
Behind a locked door they found Grace.
She sat on the floor.
Alive.
Bruised.
Terrified.
Liana rushed to her.
“Grace.”
Grace began crying.
“Nico?”
“Safe.”
“Did they give him anything?”
“No.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“Thank God.”
Naomi checked her.
Helen crouched.
“Who brought you here?”
“Vale’s men.”
“Damian?”
“I never saw him.”
Grace pointed toward the next room.
“They were destroying records.”
Matteo kicked the door open.
Inside, papers burned in metal drums.
Computers had been smashed.
But one server rack still blinked.
Rafe moved toward it.
“Power’s active.”
Helen raised a hand.
“Do not touch it.”
Rafe stopped.
“Evidence team.”
She said.
“I already called them.”
Matteo looked at her.
“You called the police?”
“I called people who don’t belong to Nolan.”
“You trust them?”
“No.”
Helen replied.
“That’s why I called three agencies at once.”
For the first time, Matteo almost looked impressed.
Liana helped Grace sit on a medical bed.
“Why did they take you?”
“Because I recorded Damian entering the house.”
Liana froze.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“What was he doing?”
Grace looked at Matteo.
“He was in Sofia’s room.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“He told me he was looking for insurance papers.”
Grace continued.
“But I saw him open the wall safe.”
“What did he take?”
“A letter.”
“What letter?”
“I don’t know.”
Matteo stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
Grace’s face crumpled.
“But Detective Nolan came to my apartment the next day.”
Everyone went silent.
“What did he say?”
Helen asked.
“That accusing a Varric could be dangerous.”
Grace laughed bitterly.
“I thought he meant Matteo.”
Matteo looked away.
His reputation had protected the real criminals.
Everyone assumed danger came from him.
Damian used that assumption like armor.
A noise sounded in the corridor.
Helen drew her weapon.
“Police!”
A man stepped from the shadows.
White coat.
Gray hair.
No weapon.
Dr. Adrian Vale.
Liana stood.
Every part of her body went cold.
He looked exactly as she remembered.
Calm.
Well groomed.
Almost kind.
The man who had touched her shoulder outside Ava’s hospital room and said they had done everything possible.
“Liana.”
He recognized her instantly.
She stared.
“You remember me.”
“Of course.”
“You remember Ava.”
Vale’s expression softened.
“Yes.”
Liana walked toward him.
Matteo moved beside her.
Helen said.
“Stop there, Doctor.”
Vale lifted his hands.
“I’m not armed.”
Helen approached.
“You’re under investigation in connection with illegal human medical experimentation, falsification of medical records, obstruction, and multiple deaths.”
Vale smiled faintly.
“That sounds dramatic.”
Liana felt Matteo move.
She touched his arm.
He stopped.
Vale saw.
Interesting.
He looked at Liana.
“You’ve become important very quickly.”
“My daughter was important before you killed her.”
Vale’s expression changed.
“I did not kill Ava.”
“Your name is on her file.”
“I treated her.”
“You experimented on her.”
“No.”
Liana pointed toward the refrigerator.
“Her blood is in there.”
Vale looked at it.
Something flickered across his face.
Not fear.
Calculation.
Helen moved closer.
“Turn around.”
Vale sighed.
“You have no idea what you’ve found.”
Naomi stepped forward.
“I know exactly what Velorin does.”
Vale looked at her.
“Naomi.”
“You should have stopped.”
“You never understood the work.”
“I understood dead babies.”
His smile disappeared.
“You think medicine advances without risk?”
Liana felt sick.
“Parents didn’t consent.”
Vale looked at her.
“Parents consent to things every day they don’t understand.”
“Ava was four months old.”
“Yes.”
“She screamed for two days.”
Vale said nothing.
Liana’s voice shook.
“Did you hear her?”
Still nothing.
“Did you ever stand outside that room and listen to what you did?”
Vale looked away.
For the first time, Liana saw shame.
Small.
Buried.
But there.
Helen cuffed him.
Vale didn’t resist.
As she turned him around, Matteo asked.
“Who ordered Sofia’s crash?”
Vale smiled again.
“I wondered when we’d get there.”
“Answer.”
“Your father approved it.”
“We know.”
“Damian arranged it.”
“We know.”
Vale looked over his shoulder.
“But neither of them chose the date.”
Matteo frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Vale’s smile vanished.
“Someone inside your house told Damian when Sofia was leaving.”
Silence.
Liana felt cold.
“Who?”
Vale looked toward the tunnel entrance.
“You’ve been searching for enemies in laboratories and boardrooms.”
He said.
“But Sofia’s last betrayal began in her own kitchen.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“Who?”
Vale leaned closer.
“The person who knew her schedule.”
He whispered.
“The person who knew where she hid the first notebook.”
Liana stopped breathing.
Only one person had admitted knowing about that notebook.
Beatrice.
Outside, somewhere above them—
May you like
Nico was alone with her.
---
