Julian Vance had retired from the hospital network, but he still kept a small private practice near the Public Garden, and it was there, separately, that Alex and Elena went looking for the truth.

Elena arrived first.

She did not raise her voice.

She simply placed the two original lab reports on his desk, side by side, hers and Alex’s, and asked him, quietly, why Beatrice Vance had been privy to her private medical records.

The aging doctor took a long time to answer.

And then, slowly, he told her.

Years ago, Beatrice had called him, frantic about the family’s legacy, about her son’s future, about the grandchildren she was owed.

And he had breached his patients’ confidentiality.