Chapter 8: The Uneasy Alliance
The interrogation room at the precinct was a stark contrast to Dr. Aris's luxurious clinic. It was a cinderblock box illuminated by a single, harsh fluorescent grate in the ceiling.
Dr. Brenda Collins sat at the metal table, still wearing the blue scrubs she had put on that morning. The handcuffs had been removed, but she looked exhausted, shadows bruising the skin beneath her eyes. She looked up as the heavy steel door opened.
Arthur stepped into the room, the door clicking shut behind him. He didn't sit down. He stood near the edge of the table, studying the woman who had invaded his home, terrified his family, and ultimately saved his son's life.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The silence was thick, heavy with the morning's trauma.
"How is Leo?" Brenda asked softly, breaking the quiet. Her voice cracked slightly, betraying genuine maternal concern.
"He's stable," Arthur replied, his tone guarded but lacking the raw hostility from earlier. "The Thallium is being flushed from his system. The doctors say he'll make a full recovery, but it will take time."
Brenda closed her eyes and let out a long, shuddering breath of relief. "Thank God. The dose I gave him... it was agonizing, I know. I hated doing it, Arthur. But I was monitoring his hair and nail beds. The toxin was reaching his neurological system. If I had waited for the bureaucracy of child protective services or the police to investigate, he would have slipped into a coma."
Arthur pulled out the metal chair opposite her and sat down. "You sacrificed your freedom to save a child you didn't even know."
"I took an oath to do no harm, and to prevent harm where I see it," Brenda said, looking him in the eye. "Aris took that same oath and twisted it into a business model. I couldn't let him claim another victim."
"He ran, Brenda," Arthur said, leaning forward. "The police raided his clinic, but he's gone. He wiped his servers and cleared out. Miller thinks he went to an off-site lab to destroy the custom batches. If he succeeds, we lose the physical evidence tying him to Leo's poisoning."
Brenda’s posture straightened, the exhaustion momentarily giving way to sharp, analytical focus. "He didn't mix the Thallium at the clinic. He needed a sterile environment, but also industrial ventilation. You can't just cook heavy metals in a residential kitchen."
"Do you know where it is?"
"I never found the exact address," Brenda admitted, frustration lacing her words. "But I tracked his supply chain. Aris couldn't buy medical-grade Thallium under his own name without flagging the DEA. He used a shell company—a defunct agricultural pest control business registered in a neighboring county. They used to use Thallium in rat poison decades ago."
Arthur pulled out his phone, opening a digital notepad. "What's the name of the shell company?"
"Verdant Solutions," Brenda answered immediately. "I hacked his clinic's financial records a year ago and saw recurring lease payments to a commercial storage and industrial park under that company's name. It's in the old manufacturing district out by the river in Oakhaven."
Arthur stood up, pocketing his phone. "Oakhaven is only a forty-minute drive from here."
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"Arthur," Brenda called out as he reached for the door handle. "Aris is desperate. He's built his entire life on prestige and wealth. Now that the curtain has been pulled back, he has nothing left to lose. Be careful."
"He poisoned my boy," Arthur said softly, his eyes cold and resolved. "He's the one who needs to be careful."
