Chapter 5 - The Fifty Calls
By noon, the story had reached every national news network.
BIOTECH CEO ARRESTED AFTER DAUGHTER’S DEATH.
FEDERAL INVESTIGATION TARGETS VANCE BIOMEDICAL.
WIFE TAKES CONTROL OF BILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY.
Reporters gathered outside the federal courthouse, the Vance headquarters, and the cemetery where Lily had been buried.
Someone leaked the number of calls Maya had made.
Fifty.
The number became a headline by itself.
People posted screenshots of the story beside photographs of their own children. Television commentators debated whether David’s actions were criminal, immoral, or both. Former employees described a corporate culture built around protecting David from bad news.
From her secure apartment, Maya watched none of it.
She sat on the floor surrounded by cardboard boxes containing Lily’s belongings.
Agent Cole had advised her not to return to the mansion. The threats were credible, and Samuel Keene’s disappearance suggested someone inside the company was preparing to destroy more than documents.
Maya opened a box labeled BEDROOM.
Inside were Lily’s books, stuffed animals, school ribbons, and a glass jar filled with seashells.
Lily had collected them during family vacations.
One shell was marked in blue crayon.
Daddy found this.
Maya held it until her hand hurt.
A knock sounded at the apartment door.
Two agents checked the hallway before allowing Dr. Patel inside.
The doctor carried a paper bag from a bakery.
“I brought food,” she said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“I know.”
Dr. Patel placed the bag on the counter and sat beside Maya.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Maya handed her the blue-marked shell.
“He promised to bring her another one.”
Dr. Patel closed her fingers around it.
“At the end, she believed he was coming.”
“I lied to her.”
“You comforted her.”
“I should have told her the truth.”
“She was seven.”
“She trusted him.”
Dr. Patel looked at the boxes.
“Children trust because they are supposed to.”
Maya wiped her face.
“I keep thinking about every medical appointment. Every form I signed. Every time David told me his company’s therapy was safer because he would never risk his own family.”
“You did not cause this.”
“I brought her to the study.”
“You relied on information that had been deliberately falsified.”
Maya looked toward the window.
“Is that what you will say in court?”
“It is what I will say anywhere.”
Her phone rang.
The screen displayed an unfamiliar Chicago number.
Agent Cole had instructed her not to answer unknown calls, but something made her accept it.
“Maya?”
The voice belonged to David.
Her body went rigid.
He sounded different—hoarse and uncertain.
“How did you get this number?”
“My attorney arranged one monitored call.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to speak to you.”
“No.”
“Please don’t hang up.”
She almost ended the call.
Then David said Lily’s name.
“Maya, I need to know what happened to her.”
“You received fifty opportunities to find out.”
“I know.”
“No, David. You know a number. You do not know what those calls contained.”
His breathing became audible.
“Tell me.”
Maya stood and walked away from Dr. Patel.
“You want me to describe it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was my daughter.”
“She was asking for you.”
David made a broken sound.
Maya continued before grief could silence her.
“She was afraid of the machines. She hated the mask over her face. She kept trying to remove it because she couldn’t understand why it was helping her breathe.”
“Stop.”
“You asked me to tell you.”
“I didn’t mean every detail.”
“That was always your problem. You wanted fatherhood without the details.”
David remained silent.
“She asked whether you were angry with her,” Maya said. “Do you understand that? She thought you were ignoring her because she had done something wrong.”
“I wasn’t ignoring her.”
“You rejected my calls.”
“I didn’t know how serious it was.”
“You read the message saying she might die.”
“I was drunk.”
“You were not unconscious.”
“Maya, I don’t remember.”
“I remember everything.”
Her voice shook now, but she did not stop.
“I remember the way her fingers felt when they became cold. I remember the nurse turning off the monitor. I remember signing a form allowing them to take her body downstairs. I remember choosing a white casket because she once said white looked like angel wings.”
David began crying.
Maya had seen him cry only once before, at his mother’s funeral.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“No.”
“I am.”
“Sorry is what you say after missing a school play.”
“I loved her.”
“You loved the way she made you feel about yourself.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Fair?”
Maya laughed, and the sound frightened even her.
“She died believing you were on your way.”
“I would have been there.”
“You were asked fifty times.”
David’s voice became desperate.
“Did she suffer?”
Maya closed her eyes.
Dr. Patel watched from across the room.
“Yes,” Maya said.
The truth landed between them.
David sobbed openly.
“Maya, I can’t live with this.”
“That is no longer my responsibility.”
“I need you.”
“You needed me when I made your home comfortable. You needed me when I smiled beside you at corporate dinners. You needed me when Lily made us look like a perfect family.”
“I need you now.”
“No. You need forgiveness.”
He did not deny it.
“I don’t have any to give you,” Maya said.
Before she could end the call, David spoke again.
“The contamination report—I didn’t know Lily had that batch.”
“You knew children had it.”
“Nolan said the risk was theoretical.”
“And you chose not to verify that because the truth might hurt your acquisition.”
“I made a terrible decision.”
“You made many decisions.”
“Maya, my father knows more than I do.”
Her hand tightened around the phone.
“What does Richard know?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Then tell the investigators what you know.”
“If I cooperate, they will use it against him.”
“Your daughter is dead.”
“He is still my father.”
Maya felt the final fragile thread connecting them snap.
“Then you have made another choice.”
She ended the call.
Agent Cole entered the room moments later. He had listened through the monitoring system.
“David’s attorney violated procedure by arranging that call without advance approval,” he said.
“I’m glad he called.”
“Why?”
“Because now I know he is still protecting Richard.”
Cole nodded.
“We expected that possibility.”
Maya looked at Dr. Patel.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Cole placed a tablet on the counter.
“We recovered additional audio from Julianne’s phone.”
He played a recording made three nights before Lily died.
David and Richard were speaking through a video call aboard the yacht.
Richard’s voice was clear.
The hospital network is asking questions about Batch 47-C.
David replied.
Nolan said the issue was contained.
Richard answered.
Then keep it contained until the acquisition closes. No exceptions.
There was a pause.
David asked a final question.
What if someone gets seriously sick?
Richard’s response came without hesitation.
Every successful company has casualties.
Maya listened twice.
Then she looked at Agent Cole.
“David knew.”
“He knew someone could be harmed.”
“And Richard ordered the cover-up.”
“Yes.”
“Can you arrest him?”
“Not yet.”
May you like
Maya glanced at the photograph of Lily sitting on the table.
“Then let’s give him a reason to make a mistake.”
