Chapter 7 - The Other Marlowe
Victor Marlowe had an identical twin brother.
Vincent.
Grant had never known.
Vincent was not neurologist.
Pharmacologist.
He worked for pharmaceutical company that supplied rehabilitation study.
Selena had grown up calling both men Dad and Uncle Vin.
After Victor died, Vincent disappeared from family life.
Why?
Rachel found him.
He told her Victor regretted Grant’s treatment.
But more important:
Batch G.H.-12 wasn't Grant’s medication.
It was placebo/control sample.
So why did Rachel preserve it?
Because another vial existed.
G.H.-11.
Active medication.
Missing.
Study logs said Grant received batch 11.
Victor kept batch 12 as comparator.
If batch 11 were tested, researchers could determine whether contamination or dosing error occurred.
But gone.
Then Selena inherited Victor’s storage.
Rachel searched with permission.
Found 12.
Not 11.
Selena believed Rachel stole 11.
Rachel denied.
They fell out.
That explained hostility.
Then why Selena inject Emma?
Emma had found vial.
Selena thought it might be G.H.-11.
She panicked.
But why syringe?
Selena claimed she was not injecting contents into Emma.
She was drawing blood.
Without consent.
Still assault.
She believed Emma had swallowed some unknown medication after finding vial and wanted sample before Grant saw.
Absurd and reckless.
But forensic analysis of syringe found Emma’s blood plus saline, not sedative as preliminary residue suggested.
Updated test showed contamination from old medical kit.
Selena had indeed drawn blood, not injected drug.
Still unacceptable.
Prompt visually shows needle driven into arm; story can preserve perceived injection while later clarifying.
Emma confirmed:
“She said she needed to see if I touched it.”
Then Grant asked why Emma shouted as if injected.
“Because needles hurt.”
Simple.
Selena had not poisoned child.
But she had forcibly drawn blood.
No excuse.
Then vial Emma held:
G.H.-12.
Control.
So not recovery cause.
Then where was 11?
Rachel’s final video:
“I found it.”
Grant leaned closer.
She held amber vial.
G.H.-11.
“I had it tested.”
Pause.
“It isn't contaminated.”
So treatment did not poison Grant.
Another theory eliminated.
“Then what happened?”
Rachel continued:
“The problem isn't what's inside vial.”
She turned it.
“There are fingerprints.”
Whose?
Lab found old partial print preserved beneath adhesive.
Not Victor.
Not Vincent.
Not Rachel.
One match available in private household records?
Selena.
Grant stared.
Selena had touched G.H.-11.
When?
She would have been seventeen.
Then Rachel’s video:
“Selena says she never saw active vial.”
May you like
Lie.
Why would teenage Selena handle Grant’s medication?
