Hopefully, it would help her see I wasn’t the cruel bastard she had every right to think I was.
At least not when it came to her.
“Henry,” a voice cut through as I made my way through the living room.
I stopped, my gaze landing on Clark as he stood from the couch, his expression polite, but uneasy.
“I was hoping to have a word.”
“Of course.”I gestured down the hall.“This way.”
I led him into the study, closing the double doors behind us.
I’d never spent much time in this room.It was too polished, too staged.But I didn’t want to bring him to my private office.There were things in there he didn’t need to see.
As grateful as I was that one of my friends from the navy was now a top neurologist who happily dropped everything to assess Ariana’s mother, I didn’t want to involve him in this any more than I already had.He had a wife.Kids.With all the uncertainty, I wasn’t willing to put them at risk.
I was lucky enough to know someone to call in this type of situation, even if we hadn’t spoken in years.That was the thing about going through basic training together.It created a bond we’d carry the rest of our lives.If one of my military brothers was in trouble, I’d drop everything to help.Just like Clark dropped everything to help me.
“How’s she doing?”I asked him, gesturing toward the leather couch in the center of the room.“I just saw her outside.She seems...clear.”I lowered myself into the armchair opposite him, resting my elbows on my knees.
“I’ve spent several hours with her this morning, running my own assessment and scans.I’ve also reviewed the records you provided.”He hesitated, and I knew whatever he was about to say wasn’t good.“There are…discrepancies.”
“Like what?”
He turned his tablet toward me, revealing what appeared to be two different brain scans.He may as well have given me a book written in a foreign language.I had no idea what I was looking at.But Clark did.He’d come a long way from the scrawny kid I met during basic training.
“The image on the left is the scan of Mrs.Summers’ brain I performed today,” he explained.“The one on the right was in her medical file, supposedly taken by Dr.Schaffer last month.”
“Okay…,” I drew out, studying the images.
They appeared different, but I didn’t know if that was to be expected.
“The scan from today shows no atrophy.No reduced dopamine activity.No plaques or Lewy bodies.No markers of neurodegeneration whatsoever.That level of improvement in four weeks isn’t just improbable, Henry.It’s impossible.”
A slow heat built in my chest.“Could the equipment have been faulty?”
“Not likely.But I repeated the scan on a secondary machine.The results are identical.”He narrowed his dark eyes at me.“The scans in her file aren’t hers.”
I sat back in my chair, letting that sink in.“So you’re saying she doesn’t have dementia.”
“All I’m saying is that based on the scan I performed today, her brain shows no indication of ever having any neurological impairment.”
“How do you explain the confusion?Paranoia?Tremors?Ariana observed those with her own eyes.Told me about her slow deterioration over the years.”
“I’m not dismissing she may have exhibited those symptoms,” he stated evenly.“But I’m not convinced they stem from a neurodegenerative disease.Which is why I ran some panels.Blood.Urine.”
“Did you find something?”
He nodded.“I tested for every compound I could think of that might induce cognitive impairment.”
“And?”
“I picked up traces of multiple medications.Antipsychotics.Anticholinergics.Barbiturates.Now, these drugs can sometimes be used to treat certain symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia, but the specific antipsychotic in her system caught my attention.”
“How so?”
“If given intermittently, it can induce tremors, rigidity, paranoia.Essentially mimic Parkinsonian or Lewy Body symptoms.”
