Chapter 8 - THE DOCTOR WHO NEVER TESTED THE OBVIOUS THING
Dr. Alan Brody was not Arthur’s primary cardiologist.
That mattered.
He had been a private consultant.
One examination.
Two telehealth follow-ups.
A review of Arthur’s hospital records.
Julian recommended him after hearing about Arthur’s fatigue.
“Best electrical-heart guy in the region,” Julian said.
Arthur trusted him.
Brody saw:
Nausea.
Dizziness.
Slow pulse.
Irregular rhythms.
Visual complaints Arthur described as “yellowish halos” around headlights.
Symptoms that, in hindsight, looked painfully compatible with digoxin toxicity.
But Arthur had no digoxin prescription.
Why test for a medication nobody thought he was taking?
That was Brody’s first defense.
Reasonable.
Then investigators found the five-month-old meeting.
Corporate counsel reviewed it.
No doctor-patient care was delivered during the meeting.
It was a paid consulting discussion about executive health contingency planning.
Brody had been retained by Meridian Transition Services.
Not Vance Contract Furnishings.
Arthur listened to the approved excerpt with Rebecca.
Julian’s voice:
“If a founder has progressive rhythm problems, how quickly can incapacity become death?”
Brody:
“That depends entirely on cause.”
Vanessa:
“What if the cause isn’t reversible?”
Brody:
“Then you’re asking a clinical question without a patient.”
Marissa:
“We’re building succession scenarios.”
Brody:
“Then use actuarial ranges, not me guessing.”
Julian laughed.
“Fair.”
No poisoning.
No drug.
No crime.
Then, twelve minutes later:
Vanessa:
“What about medications that cause rhythm problems?”
Brody:
“Many.”
Vanessa:
“Digoxin?”
Silence.
Arthur’s skin went cold.
Brody:
“Is Arthur taking digoxin?”
Vanessa:
“No.”
Brody:
“Then why are you asking?”
Vanessa laughed.
“My grandmother used it.”
Julian changed the subject.
Arthur stared at Rebecca.
“She asked.”
“Yes.”
“Five months ago.”
“Yes.”
“Before my first major hospitalization.”
“Yes.”
Dr. Brody’s attorney later said the question did not alarm him because digoxin is a common cardiac medication and Vanessa supplied a family explanation.
Maybe true.
Then another fact emerged.
Brody had recommended Arthur undergo a complete medication reconciliation and toxicology review if symptoms worsened.
The recommendation was in his written report.
Arthur had never seen it.
“Who received it?”
“Julian,” Rebecca said.
“Why?”
“He arranged the consultation through executive health.”
Arthur felt sick.
Julian had withheld the one recommendation that might have exposed everything early.
That was harder to explain.
The board’s audit committee confronted Julian through counsel.
His response:
He did not remember withholding anything.
He believed Arthur’s physicians already had the report.
He denied knowing Vanessa intended poisoning.
Then Vanessa’s attorney contacted prosecutors.
She wanted to discuss cooperation.
Arthur laughed when Rebecca told him.
“Now?”
“She may have realized Julian isn’t protecting her.”
“Should I care?”
“No.”
“Good.”
But he did care.
Not about Vanessa’s fear.
About what she knew.
A proffer session occurred without Arthur.
Vanessa did not receive immunity merely for talking.
Her attorney made that clear.
Prosecutors made that clearer.
She admitted the affair.
Eleven months.
She admitted Julian supplied pills from Edward Mercer’s unused medication.
She admitted opening capsules and mixing crushed tablets into Arthur’s supplements.
She admitted the dosing sheet.
She admitted monitoring Arthur’s pulse.
Arthur read the summary with both hands clenched.
Then came the part he had not expected.
Vanessa claimed Julian told her Arthur was already terminal.
“What?”
Rebecca said.
“She says Julian convinced her the cardiomyopathy would kill you within a year regardless.”
Arthur stared.
“So she thought she was only murdering me a little?”
Rebecca did not smile.
Vanessa said Julian framed it as “helping the inevitable arrive on schedule.”
Still attempted murder.
Still poisoning.
But the language explained her messages.
What if he dies too early?
She did not think she was creating death from nothing.
She thought she was accelerating it.
Arthur whispered, “And she believed him.”
“Apparently.”
“Why?”
“Because Dr. Brody had said your disease might progress.”
“But Brody never said terminal.”
“No.”
Julian filled the gap.
Then Vanessa revealed the next step.
After Arthur signed the revised shareholder agreement, she was supposed to stop the capsules.
His damaged heart would continue failing.
A death would look natural.
She would inherit trust assets.
Julian would buy the company.
Then Malibu.
Arthur looked toward the window.
“Did she ever see the actual estate plan?”
“No.”
“What did Julian tell her?”
“That she would receive approximately eighty-two million.”
Arthur laughed.
Not because it was funny.
His net worth was around eighty-two million.
But Vanessa would never receive that amount in cash.
Much of the value was tied to business shares, tax obligations, charitable commitments, partnership interests, and assets she did not own.
Even before Arthur’s trust amendment, her practical inheritance would have been far less.
Julian knew that.
Vanessa did not.
Arthur whispered:
“He lied to her too.”
“Yes.”
Then Rebecca turned the page.
Vanessa had given prosecutors messages.
One from Julian:
Once Arthur signs, you get the estate. I get the company. Then we’re free.
Another:
Do not ask Rebecca Sloan questions. She complicates everything.
Another:
If A dies before signature, we lose control of valuation.
There it was.
Cold.
Specific.
Then one more.
Vanessa:
Promise Malibu is real.
Julian:
It’s the only real thing in this mess.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Rebecca kept reading.
“Arthur.”
“What?”
“There’s a later message.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Vanessa:
What if I can’t keep doing this?
Julian:
Then remember what happens if Arthur finds out about us and the pills.
Vanessa:
Are you threatening me?
Julian:
I’m reminding you we finish what we started.
Arthur stared.
A partnership had become coercion.
Then another message from Vanessa:
After he dies, you said no more secrets.
Julian:
After he dies, everything resets.
Arthur looked at Rebecca.
“What does that mean?”
She shook her head.
Nobody knew.
The forensic auditors did.
At 7:45 that evening, they identified a second Malibu-related document.
Not the house reservation.
A wire instruction.
Deposit:
$750,000.
Source:
Meridian Transition Services.
Beneficiary account:
MARISSA CRANE.
Arthur stared.
“Marissa?”
The woman Julian was paying.
The woman who threatened Caleb.
The money for Malibu was not going toward Vanessa.
It was going to Marissa.
May you like
And three days later, Julian had sent Marissa a message from his private account:
Once the founder event clears, we leave California together.
