Chapter 10 - THE DOCTOR’S FILE
Dr. Brooks did not deny the signature.
At twenty-five, he had been a resident at Richard’s clinic.
He evaluated Anna after she was captured.
He signed a report describing her as delusional.
That report helped Diane keep her confined.
“I was young,” he said.
Anna stared at him.
“You were a doctor.”
He looked down.
“I believed Richard.”
“You ignored the restraints.”
“I was afraid.”
Another man using fear as a defense.
Dr. Brooks claimed he later discovered the truth and spent years searching for the women he harmed.
He became an emergency physician because abuse victims often reached hospitals before police.
That was why he recognized my injuries immediately.
He had tried to atone privately.
Anna asked why he never testified.
“Because Diane had evidence against me.”
He had falsified records.
He feared prison and the loss of his medical license.
His protection of me was real.
So was his betrayal of Anna.
Both truths stood in the room together.
Federal prosecutors offered him limited immunity for complete cooperation.
He revealed the location of Dr. Vale.
Vale was hiding beneath Saint Catherine’s in an unused treatment wing.
Police found him with altered patient files and Eleanor’s original records.
He also held video of Diane ordering Richard’s death.
Richard had planned to confess.
Diane replaced his heart medication and let the death appear natural.
Dr. Vale recorded her for protection.
The recording secured a murder charge.
It also revealed another name.
Mark.
He had delivered the medication bottle to his father.
Mark claimed he believed it contained blood-pressure pills.
Vale said Mark knew.
I visited my husband in jail.
“Did you know?”
He stared at the wall.
“My mother said Dad was going to destroy everyone.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I knew the pills were different.”
My marriage ended in that silence.
But before I left, Mark said, “My father didn’t die before telling me one thing.”
“What?”
“He said Anna had another child.”
May you like
My mother had given birth twice.
I had a sibling somewhere inside Diane’s files.
