Chapter 2 - THE VOICE SOMEBODY BURIED
Dominic did not confront Vincent.
Every instinct he had developed over twenty years told him to do exactly that, which was why he refused to trust the instinct.
By seven the next morning, an outside neurological rehabilitation specialist named Dr. Priya Shah was driving through the estate gates. Dominic chose her because she had never treated Mateo, never worked for any Moretti-connected hospital, and had been recommended by an attorney rather than anyone inside his household.
Evelyn stayed.
Vincent was told only that Dominic wanted an independent review of Mateo’s long-term care.
“That’s sudden,” Vincent said over breakfast.
Dominic buttered toast he had no intention of eating. “So was the shooting.”
Vincent’s eyes rested on him for half a second too long.
“Something happen last night?”
“No.”
Dominic had lied to far more dangerous men.
It had never felt this personal.
Upstairs, Dr. Shah spent almost two hours with Mateo before saying anything definitive. She tested voluntary blinking, gaze direction, visual tracking, fatigue, attention and comprehension. Some responses failed when Mateo grew tired. Others were immediate. She changed question order to prevent accidental patterns and used facts Evelyn could not have known.
At the end, she removed her glasses.
“This should have been reassessed long ago.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I would not rely on blinking alone for complex testimony. But your brother is clearly demonstrating intentional yes-no responses. His eye control also appears sufficient for an eye-gaze communication trial.”
Evelyn glanced at Dominic.
“Trial?” he asked.
“A camera tracks where Mateo looks on a screen. With calibration and practice, he may be able to select letters, words and commands.”
Dominic stared at her. “Why has nobody done that?”
Dr. Shah’s expression changed.
“I was going to ask you.”
She opened Mateo’s chart on the tablet she had been given. Four months earlier, a speech-language pathologist had recommended exactly such a trial. A medical-equipment company had delivered a temporary evaluation unit to the estate.
Dominic had never heard about it.
“Who declined?” he asked.
“The note says family security.”
“There is no family-security medical authority.”
“I know.”
Dominic looked at the electronic sign-off.
V. HALE.
He felt no explosion of rage. The emotion went colder than that. His body simply became very still.
Evelyn noticed. “Dominic.”
He looked at her.
“Decision, not reaction.”
He hated how accurately she had learned him.
The equipment vendor confirmed the trial unit had never been returned. According to its tracking record, it remained assigned to Moretti House. Vincent had signed for the case personally at the security entrance.
A search of medical storage found it before noon.
The black shipping case sat beneath two unused oxygen concentrators in a locked basement equipment room. Its seal was intact.
Dr. Shah stared at it. “Nobody even opened this.”
Dominic looked at the signature attached to the shipping label.
Vincent Hale.
Evelyn did not say I told you so. That would have been easier to tolerate.
Instead she asked, “Could Mateo have known this came?”
Dr. Shah shook her head. “Only if somebody told him or he saw it.”
They took the case upstairs.
Mateo’s eyes widened when he saw it.
Evelyn noticed immediately.
“Mateo, have you seen that case before?”
Two blinks.
Dominic looked sharply toward him.
“Did Vincent bring it into this room?”
Two blinks.
“Did he take it away?”
Two.
That established what Mateo had directly witnessed. Nothing more.
Dr. Shah insisted they stop until the device was properly calibrated.
The process took most of the afternoon. Mateo became frustrated almost immediately. His eyes selected the wrong corner. The cursor drifted. He grew tired. Once he managed to spell three letters of a word before an involuntary movement erased it.
Dominic stood behind him helplessly.
Evelyn sat where Mateo could see her.
“Being terrible at something for twenty minutes doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”
Mateo looked at her.
Two blinks.
Dominic frowned. “Was that agreement?”
Evelyn smiled. “Obviously.”
After three hours, Mateo produced his first intentional word.
DOM.
Dominic leaned closer.
The second took longer.
IDIOT.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Dr. Shah laughed openly.
Dominic stared at his brother. “Two years without speech and that’s what you choose?”
Mateo selected YES.
For the first time since the ambush, Dominic saw his brother rather than a patient.
Not the man he remembered.
The man who was still there.
That joy made what came next worse.
Dr. Shah limited the session to simple phrases. Mateo typed slowly, with breaks between each one.
VINCENT KNEW.
Dominic asked, “Knew you could communicate?”
Mateo selected:
YES.
“How?”
Mateo’s eyes moved.
I BLINKED.
A pause.
HE SAW.
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“When?”
Mateo spelled:
AFTER SHOOTING.
Dominic felt sick.
Vincent had stood beside Mateo’s hospital bed during the first weeks after the ambush. If Mateo had attempted to communicate and Vincent recognized it, then every later decision to minimize communication support looked different.
Dominic asked the question he had been afraid to ask.
“What did you know before the ambush?”
Mateo rested.
Then began again.
I HEARD HIM.
“Vincent?”
YES.
“What did you hear?”
The answer took nearly four minutes.
ROUTE.
Dominic’s mouth went dry.
The night of the ambush, Dominic had changed the convoy route less than an hour before departure because snow had closed part of the original road. The revised route had been discussed in his study.
Only four people were present.
Dominic.
Mateo.
Vincent.
And the driver who died at the scene.
Dominic whispered, “You heard Vincent tell someone?”
Mateo selected:
PHONE.
Then:
AFTER YOU LEFT.
Evelyn stopped him from asking more. “He’s exhausted.”
Dominic wanted to argue.
Then he looked at Mateo’s face and saw how much effort every word had cost.
He stepped back.
“Tomorrow.”
Mateo blinked twice.
Before leaving, Dominic turned off the room lights himself.
At the door, the synthetic voice from Mateo’s device sounded behind him.
“Dom.”
He turned.
Mateo slowly selected four words.
May you like
HE CHANGED THE ROUTE.
Dominic stood in the doorway for a long time after the screen went dark.
