Chapter 8 - The Doctor Who Never Needed an Interpreter
Dr. Lucien Rinaldi arrived at the mansion at nine in the morning because Gabriel ordered him to come.
He did not know Beatrice's blood had already been tested by another physician.
That was deliberate.
Gabriel wanted to hear what the doctor said before showing him evidence.
Chloe sat beside Beatrice in the morning room.
Matteo stood near the door.
Gabriel remained by the fireplace.
Dr. Rinaldi entered carrying a leather medical bag and an offended expression.
He was sixty, silver-haired, expensive, and accustomed to being trusted before he spoke.
"Gabriel, this is highly irregular."
"Good morning to you too."
"I was told Beatrice had an episode."
Beatrice looked at Chloe.
She signed, "He calls everything an episode."
Chloe translated.
Rinaldi's eyes moved to her.
"Who are you?"
"An interpreter for this conversation."
"Are you certified?"
"No."
"Then you are not a medical interpreter."
Chloe nodded.
"Correct."
"So we should have a certified interpreter here."
Rinaldi looked at Gabriel as if expecting agreement.
Gabriel's voice was cold.
"Funny."
"You never said that during the last eight years of treating my mother."
Rinaldi blinked.
"Beatrice has always preferred family assistance."
Beatrice signed instantly.
"Lie."
Chloe translated.
Rinaldi looked at her.
"Mrs. Costello often forgets her prior preferences."
Beatrice leaned forward.
Her hands moved with precise anger.
"I asked you for an interpreter twelve times."
"You told Gabriel I became agitated when strangers were present."
Chloe translated every word.
Rinaldi's jaw tightened.
"This is exactly the type of confabulation I documented."
Gabriel stepped away from the fireplace.
"Explain that word."
"A patient with cognitive impairment may construct false memories without intentionally lying."
Beatrice's eyes flashed.
"Convenient."
Chloe translated.
Gabriel picked up a folder.
"You diagnosed mild cognitive impairment last year."
"I documented symptoms consistent with it."
"Using what test?"
"Several standardized assessments."
"Which language were they administered in?"
Rinaldi paused.
"The tests are not language dependent in the way you are suggesting."
Chloe stared at him.
"Did you give spoken instructions?"
"Some."
"Could she hear them?"
"She had visual cues."
Beatrice shook her head violently.
Rinaldi ignored her.
Chloe did not.
"She says you stood behind her for part of the test."
Rinaldi sighed.
"This is becoming theatrical."
Gabriel's face hardened.
"Sit down."
Rinaldi looked surprised.
"Gabriel."
"Sit."
The doctor sat.
Gabriel placed a clear evidence bag on the table.
Inside were the three tablets from Beatrice's Friday compartment.
"What are these?"
Rinaldi looked once.
"I cannot identify medication visually with certainty."
"What did you prescribe?"
"A low-dose blood pressure medication and a vitamin supplement."
"Anything sedating?"
"No."
Gabriel put down a second document.
It was the preliminary report from Dr. Park's lab.
"One of these is clonazepam."
Rinaldi's expression barely changed.
But Chloe saw his left hand close around the handle of his medical bag.
"Then someone made an error at the pharmacy."
Beatrice signed, "Blue box."
Chloe translated.
"She says the medication came through a blue box you sent with Frank D'Amato every Friday."
Rinaldi looked at Beatrice for the first time.
"You are mistaken."
Beatrice signed, "You never learned enough sign language to know when I am mistaken."
Chloe translated.
Matteo almost smiled.
Gabriel did not.
"Why was my head of security transporting medication?"
Rinaldi spread his hands.
"Privacy."
"Your family attracts attention."
"I occasionally coordinated private delivery."
"Through Dominic's employee."
"Through your employee."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"D'Amato reported to Dominic."
Rinaldi's voice became cautious.
"I was not involved in internal management."
Chloe noticed Beatrice staring at the doctor's bag.
Then Beatrice signed to her.
"He has my blue box."
Chloe looked.
A corner of blue plastic was visible beneath the partially open flap.
"Gabriel."
He followed her gaze.
Rinaldi stood.
Matteo stepped in front of the door.
"Sit," Gabriel said again.
Rinaldi's face lost some of its polish.
"You cannot detain me."
"Then leave the bag."
"It contains confidential patient materials."
"Including my mother's medication?"
Rinaldi grabbed the bag.
Matteo took it from him without effort.
Inside was a blue plastic lockbox.
Beatrice stood.
She pointed at it.
"Mine."
Chloe translated.
Matteo opened the box using a key from Rinaldi's ring.
Inside were labeled packets for seven weeks.
Each packet contained the same extra white tablet.
Gabriel looked at Rinaldi.
"Seven weeks."
Rinaldi's face was pale now.
"I can explain."
"Please do."
"Beatrice was having anxiety episodes."
"The sedative was appropriate."
"Then why is it not in her chart?"
"Because we were trialing the dose."
"Without telling her?"
"She was informed."
Beatrice slammed both hands on the table.
She signed so quickly Chloe had to ask her to repeat.
"He never told me."
"He gave pills to make my hands slow."
"Then he told my son slow hands meant my mind was failing."
Chloe's voice shook as she translated.
Gabriel looked at the doctor with a level of stillness that was more frightening than rage.
"Did Dominic pay you?"
Rinaldi stood again.
"I am leaving."
Matteo did not move.
Gabriel said, "Did Dominic pay you?"
Rinaldi looked toward the windows.
"You are making a serious accusation."
"You drugged my mother without documenting it."
"You evaluated a deaf woman without an interpreter."
"You labeled her confused when she objected."
"And you routed her medication through my cousin's security chief."
"I am past accusations."
"I am asking whether you want to tell me the rest before someone else does."
Rinaldi swallowed.
Beatrice suddenly moved closer to Chloe.
She signed, "Watch his left hand."
The doctor's left hand had slipped into his coat pocket.
Matteo moved instantly.
He seized Rinaldi's wrist and pulled out a phone.
The screen was lit.
A message draft was open.
Only three words had been typed.
THEY FOUND BOX.
The recipient was saved as D.C.
Gabriel took the phone.
Rinaldi's shoulders dropped.
"How much?"
Rinaldi did not answer.
Gabriel unlocked the banking application using the doctor's face before Rinaldi could turn away.
Matteo searched recent transfers.
Three payments came from D.C. Strategic Group.
The same shell company listed on the forged ownership transfer.
Each payment was forty thousand dollars.
Chloe felt sick.
Gabriel looked at his mother.
Beatrice stared at the doctor with no triumph at all.
Only exhaustion.
"Why?" Gabriel asked.
Rinaldi sank back into the chair.
"Dominic said she was becoming dangerous."
"Dangerous how?"
"She was remembering things."
Beatrice's face sharpened.
Gabriel stepped closer.
"What things?"
Rinaldi looked at Beatrice.
Then at Chloe.
"Vincent."
Gabriel's breathing changed.
"What about Vincent?"
Rinaldi shook his head.
"I only know what Dominic told me."
"Which was?"
Rinaldi hesitated.
"Your mother saw something the night Vincent died."
Beatrice stood very slowly.
Her hands began to move.
Chloe watched the sentence form.
Her skin went cold.
"I did not see something."
"I saw someone."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Who?"
Beatrice pointed at Rinaldi.
The doctor's face collapsed.
Chloe translated anyway.
May you like
"She saw Dr. Rinaldi leaving Vincent's warehouse twenty minutes before the fire."
