Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Already Dead
Evelyn Whitmore stared at Detective Mercer.
“I'm sorry?”
The detective repeated herself.
“The documents recovered from Richard Vale's vehicle include a death certificate bearing your name.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“That's impossible.”
“The document appears to have been prepared but not officially filed.”
“Prepared by whom?”
“We're determining that.”
Evelyn's fingers tightened around the arms of her wheelchair.
“Does it have a date?”
Mercer nodded.
“October seventeenth.”
Evelyn looked toward the calendar on the library desk.
October twenty-eighth.
Eleven days.
She was supposed to have been dead for eleven days.
Jonathan bent toward his mother.
“Someone was planning this.”
Evelyn looked back at him.
“No.”
Her voice was suddenly steady.
“Someone believed it had already happened.”
Mercer studied her.
“What makes you say that?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Because eleven days ago, I woke up in the night and couldn't breathe.”
Maria remembered immediately.
She had been on the second floor when she heard Evelyn's bedside alarm.
She ran into the bedroom.
Evelyn was lying motionless with her mouth slightly open.
Her skin was cold.
Her pulse was barely detectable.
Dr. Bell arrived seventeen minutes later.
He told Maria that Evelyn had experienced a serious reaction to her medication.
He instructed everyone to leave.
When Jonathan called the next morning, Celeste said his mother had suffered a mild episode of exhaustion.
“Bell told us she was stable,” Maria whispered.
Evelyn nodded.
“When I woke up, Celeste was standing beside my bed.”
Jonathan waited.
“She looked surprised.”
“What did she say?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“She asked how I was feeling.”
“And?”
“I told her I felt terrible.”
Evelyn looked toward the dark fireplace.
“She said, ‘You really are stronger than anybody realizes.’”
Mercer quietly asked, “Do you remember anything else?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Richard was there.”
Jonathan's head snapped toward her.
“Richard Vale?”
“Yes.”
“He and Celeste were arguing in the hallway.”
“About what?”
“I couldn't hear everything.”
Evelyn paused.
“But Richard said, ‘We cannot keep pretending this is a mistake.’”
Maria covered her mouth.
Jonathan began walking toward the door.
Mercer stepped into his path.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Bell.”
“The police are already looking for him.”
“I need answers.”
“You'll get them faster if you stay here.”
Jonathan stared at her.
She did not move.
Finally, he stepped back.
Mercer contacted the hospital.
The answering supervisor claimed Dr. Bell had requested emergency leave.
He had not appeared at work since the previous afternoon.
His phone was off.
His home was empty.
His office computer had been wiped.
A forensic team was on its way.
Meanwhile, officers searched Evelyn's medical suite.
They found the cabinet empty.
They also discovered that its electronic access log had been deleted.
But the lock itself retained a separate maintenance record.
Someone had opened it shortly after the lights went out.
The access credential belonged to Claire Bennett.
Evelyn's private nurse.
Jonathan stared at the report.
“Claire was with my mother.”
Mercer nodded.
“That's what several witnesses say.”
“Then she couldn't have done it.”
“Unless someone copied her credential.”
Maria looked up.
“Or unless she gave it to someone.”
The detective turned toward her.
“Why would you say that?”
Maria hesitated.
“Claire didn't want me near Mrs. Whitmore during the past month.”
“Did she explain why?”
“She said I was making Mrs. Whitmore anxious.”
Jonathan frowned.
“My mother likes you.”
“Claire knew that.”
Maria looked at Evelyn.
“And sometimes she acted as if that bothered her.”
Evelyn rubbed her forehead.
“I don't know what to believe anymore.”
Jonathan knelt beside her.
“Mother, we're getting you out of here.”
She touched his cheek.
“Where would you take me?”
“Somewhere secure.”
“Your penthouse?”
“Maybe.”
“Where your wife knows every door code?”
Jonathan said nothing.
Evelyn took his hand.
“My entire life, I thought money made people safer.”
She looked toward Maria.
“It seems to have made us easier to reach.”
Before anyone could answer, a young officer entered.
“Detective, there's a woman downstairs asking to speak with you.”
“Who?”
“Claire Bennett.”
Jonathan rose.
“Bring her up.”
The officer hesitated.
“She says she won't come inside.”
“Why not?”
“She says somebody threatened her children.”
Mercer's expression hardened.
“Where are they?”
“We don't know.”
The detective hurried toward the door.
Maria followed.
They found Claire standing beneath the mansion's front portico.
Rain streamed down her coat.
Her makeup had run.
She clutched a folded photograph in one hand.
“Claire,” Jonathan called.
The nurse flinched.
“Don't come closer.”
Mercer stopped a few feet away.
“I'm Detective Rachel Mercer.”
Claire stared at her.
“They have my daughters.”
“Who does?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don't know where they are.”
“Who contacted you?”
“A man.”
“What did he say?”
Claire began sobbing.
“He said if I told you what was happening, I'd never see them again.”
Mercer's voice softened.
“We can help you.”
Claire looked toward Jonathan.
“I didn't know they were going to kill her.”
Jonathan felt something inside him break.
“What?”
Claire covered her face.
“I thought they only wanted her confused.”
Maria stepped forward.
“Who?”
Claire's shoulders shook.
“Celeste.”
Evelyn appeared behind them in her wheelchair, pushed by an officer.
Claire saw her.
She collapsed to her knees.
“Mrs. Whitmore, I'm so sorry.”
Evelyn stared down at her.
“What did you give me?”
Claire struggled to speak.
“I changed your medication.”
Jonathan lunged forward.
Mercer caught his arm.
“Jonathan!”
He stopped inches from Claire.
His voice trembled with fury.
“You watched my mother get weaker for months.”
Claire nodded helplessly.
“I know.”
“And you said nothing?”
“They had recordings.”
“Of what?”
Claire looked up.
“They knew about the hospital.”
Maria moved closer.
“What about the hospital?”
Claire's face went gray.
“The clinical trials.”
Mercer crouched beside her.
“What trials?”
Claire looked at Maria.
“Daniel Alvarez found them.”
The rain struck the stone pavement.
“He found the records of the patients they killed.”
Maria felt her knees weaken.
Claire grabbed her hand.
“And he wasn't the only person who tried to expose them.”
“Who else?”
Claire began crying harder.
“A woman named Rebecca Shaw.”
Jonathan froze.
The name hit him like a physical blow.
Rebecca Shaw had been his first wife.
She had died seven years earlier.
In a car accident.
Celeste had been Rebecca's closest friend.
May you like
And Claire whispered the words that changed everything.
“Rebecca didn't die in an accident.”
