Chapter 16 : He's Lying
1211 Words
Ethan sat in the waiting area, still thinking about the patient list.
The names, medication records, and observation reports kept running through his mind.
He was still lost in thought when someone approached him.
“Are you Mr. Cole?”
Ethan looked up.
“Yes.”
“Dr. Mercer is available now. If you're ready, please come with me.”
“Sure. Thank you.”
Ethan stood and followed the staff member toward the elevator.
The doors opened, and they stepped inside.
As the elevator slowly climbed, Ethan hesitated for a moment before asking,
“Do you know Dr. Mercer?”
The staff member smiled.
“Of course. He's been working here for years.”
“What do you think of him?”
The staff member thought for a moment.
“Well... Dr. Mercer is one of the best neurologists we have here.”
“And he's a good man.”
“He's always patient with people, and he's very kind to his patients. A lot of them really trust him.”
Ethan nodded and didn't ask anything else.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened.
The staff member led Ethan into the hallway. After walking a short distance, they stopped in front of an office.
A nameplate beside the door read:
Dr. Alan Mercer
Director of Neurology and Clinical Research
Ethan's eyes lingered on the nameplate for a couple of seconds.
The staff member knocked.
“Come in.”
A man's voice came from inside.
The staff member opened the door.
“Doctor, this is Mr. Cole. He's the one who wanted to speak with you.”
He turned to Ethan.
“You two take your time. I'll leave you to it.”
“Thank you.”
The staff member left, and the door quietly closed behind him.
The man behind the desk looked up.
It was Alan Mercer.
He looked even more composed in person than he had in the photograph.
Mercer set down the file in his hands and gave Ethan a polite, friendly smile.
“Hello, Mr. Cole.”
He gestured toward the chair across from him.
“Have a seat.”
Ethan sat down.
Mercer leaned back in his chair, still smiling.
“So, Mr. Cole, which medical school are you from?”
His tone was warm and welcoming, nothing like that of someone who had just finished a long day.
“What kind of research are you working on? If it's related to clinical research, maybe I can point you in the right direction.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
His tone became more serious.
“I'm a forensic science student. I'm here because I'd like to ask you about a missing-person case from 2009.”
The smile disappeared from Mercer's face.
The office fell silent.
A few seconds passed before he leaned back in his chair.
His voice had turned noticeably colder.
“I don't have anything to say.”
“I told the police everything I knew back then.”
“The case was covered in the news. You should be able to find most of it online.”
Ethan noticed the change in his attitude.
But he didn't stop.
“Yes. I've gone through the news reports and the publicly available police records.”
“But I noticed that a lot of the details from the original investigation were never fully documented.”
“So I wanted to hear from someone who was actually involved in the case.”
Mercer stared at him.
His expression remained unreadable.
After a few seconds, he asked coldly,
“What do you want to know?”
Ethan looked at him.
“As far as I know, Claire Morgan had no history of neurological illness.”
Mercer said nothing.
Ethan continued.
“So why did she make an appointment with you?”
“Or, more specifically... what were the two of you discussing?”
Mercer's brow tightened slightly.
“I'm sorry.”
“As a doctor, I can't disclose a patient's private information.”
“That's part of my professional obligation.”
“I understand.”
Ethan didn't back down.
“But the news reports say Claire disappeared after her appointment with you.”
“So I'd like to ask you something.”
“After she left your office, did you ever see her again?”
Mercer was silent for a few seconds.
Then he answered,
“No.”
“After she left, I never saw her again.”
Ethan held his gaze.
A thought immediately surfaced in his mind.
He's lying.
Mercer was clearly losing patience.
“Is there anything else?”
“If not, I have another patient waiting.”
Ethan didn't answer right away.
He lowered his eyes and thought for a few seconds.
Then he looked back up.
“One last question.”
“Did you know Professor Whitmore?”
For just a moment, Mercer's pupils widened.
It was so brief that Ethan might have missed it if he'd hadn't been watching him closely.
But he saw it.
A second later, Mercer had regained his composure.
“I know who he was.”
His voice was calm again.
“Professor Whitmore was an excellent forensic science professor.”
“We'd spoken a few times on academic forums.”
Mercer paused.
Then looked directly at Ethan.
“Why are you asking about him?”
Ethan answered,
“He was my mentor.”
Mercer's eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Oh?”
“So you're his student.”
He paused for a moment.
“How has he been lately?”
Ethan looked at him.
“He died a few weeks ago.”
Mercer's expression stiffened.
“At home.”
“A sudden heart attack.”
Mercer said nothing.
But Ethan caught it again.
A brief flicker of panic.
It lasted only a moment, but this time it was even more obvious.
Ethan continued.
“While I was going through his belongings, I found a lot of notes about Claire Morgan's disappearance in his notebook.”
“So I thought—”
“All right.”
Mercer suddenly cut him off.
His tone had completely lost its earlier warmth.
“You should leave.”
“I don't have anything else to say.”
“I have work to do.”
Ethan didn't get up.
“Dr. Mercer, I just wanted to—”
“Enough.”
Mercer looked directly at him.
“That's enough. Know when to stop.”
The atmosphere in the office suddenly felt tense.
Mercer stared at Ethan, his voice low.
“Don't look through a few notes and convince yourself there's some huge secret waiting for you to uncover.”
“It could have been nothing more than a theory Whitmore came up with on a whim.”
“Sometimes, when you spend too much time studying a case, it's easy to start connecting things that were never connected in the first place.”
He pointed toward the door.
“That's it.”
Ethan said nothing else.
He stood up.
But before turning to leave, he looked at Mercer one last time.
And Mercer's reaction had made one thing even clearer to him.
He was hiding a lot.
And whatever connection he had to Claire's disappearance, Ethan was certain it wasn't a coincidence.
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