\u201cCall the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad was already dialing.<\/p>\n
His hands shook so badly he nearly dropped the phone.<\/p>\n
A woman answered.<\/p>\n
Dad didn\u2019t introduce himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found the red folder.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman\u2019s response came instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy deputies are already moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
He put the call on speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSheriff Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name meant nothing to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father contacted me after his bank reported a suspicious financial request.\u201d<\/p>\n
A radio crackled behind her voice.<\/p>\n
Then a deputy announced that two people were leaving Dad\u2019s property in a silver SUV.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer ordered them stopped before they reached the highway.<\/p>\n
I looked at Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou called the sheriff?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd didn\u2019t tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to keep you out of it until I knew what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat stopped being an option when Vanessa called to tell me you were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked older suddenly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat across from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened when Mom died?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked toward the dark laptop.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard Grant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard him say they needed to destroy something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story you know about that night isn\u2019t completely true.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me you were at Harold\u2019s fishing cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
One word.<\/p>\n
Three years of certainty vanished with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere were you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt St. Matthew\u2019s Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold called me. Chest pains.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stared at his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said they\u2019d been happening for days. I drove him to the emergency department and stayed there.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered Dad calling after two in the morning to tell me Mom was gone.<\/p>\n
I remembered Vanessa filling in everything he couldn\u2019t say.<\/p>\n
Dad and Harold had been repairing storm damage at the cabin.<\/p>\n
Mom had suffered a sudden cardiac event.<\/p>\n
Vanessa had arrived shortly afterward.<\/p>\n
She had called for help.<\/p>\n
Nothing could have saved Mom.<\/p>\n
Every piece had come from Vanessa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy lie?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold asked me not to tell anyone about the hospital. He said he was embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer\u2019s radio interrupted us.<\/p>\n
The SUV had been stopped.<\/p>\n
Vanessa and Grant were refusing to cooperate.<\/p>\n
The sheriff asked whether the red folder was visible.<\/p>\n
A deputy confirmed it was on the rear seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecure it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant began shouting.<\/p>\n
Vanessa told him to shut up.<\/p>\n
Then both started blaming each other.<\/p>\n
A search of the vehicle produced jewelry, documents, cash, and several prescription bottles.<\/p>\n
Dad leaned toward the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose prescriptions?\u201d<\/p>\n
The deputy read the label.<\/p>\n
Eleanor Cole.<\/p>\n
Dad gripped the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother\u2019s medication disappeared after she died. Vanessa told me the paramedics took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer became very quiet.<\/p>\n
Then she told us to return home.<\/p>\n
Eleven hours.<\/p>\n
Dad barely spoke for the first five.<\/p>\n
The landscape moved past in long strips of highway, gas stations, fields and towns whose names I forgot as soon as we crossed them.<\/p>\n
Finally he said, \u201cThe paramedic told me something.\u201d<\/p>\n
I kept my eyes on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thought Eleanor had remained conscious for a while after she collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly half an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
I tightened both hands around the wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cVanessa told us Mom died almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ask why their stories were different?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was burying my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice cracked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believed my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
That silenced me.<\/p>\n
We reached the sheriff\u2019s office after dark.<\/p>\n
Vanessa and Grant had been separated.<\/p>\n
The red folder sat sealed in evidence plastic on a conference-room table.<\/p>\n
Beside it were Mom\u2019s prescriptions, jewelry, the old will draft, and paperwork connected to Dad\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer sat opposite us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe forged power of attorney is enough for us to keep investigating the financial crimes. What\u2019s in this folder may be more serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened it carefully.<\/p>\n
The first item was a private investigator\u2019s report dated six days before Mom died.<\/p>\n
His name was Michael Turner.<\/p>\n
Dad didn\u2019t recognize it.<\/p>\n
The report contained photographs.<\/p>\n
Vanessa meeting someone near Dad\u2019s bank.<\/p>\n
Grant using Mom\u2019s credit card.<\/p>\n
Copies of checks.<\/p>\n
Withdrawals.<\/p>\n
Account records.<\/p>\n
The total exceeded sixty-one thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Dad read the figures twice.<\/p>\n
Then he whispered, \u201cThey were stealing from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Near the bottom of one page was Mom\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n
I recognized the slant immediately.<\/p>\n
She had discovered the missing money.<\/p>\n
She intended to confront them that night.<\/p>\n
The night she died.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer turned another page.<\/p>\n
A letter.<\/p>\n
This one was also from Mom.<\/p>\n
Its meaning was simple.<\/p>\n
If something happened to her, we were not to trust Vanessa\u2019s account.<\/p>\n
The folder was supposed to reach me.<\/p>\n
I pressed my fingertips against my mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stared at the paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew she was in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer removed a flash drive.<\/p>\n
The date written on it was the date of Mom\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
We listened together.<\/p>\n
At first there was only the low hum of a refrigerator.<\/p>\n
Then Mom spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know about the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hadn\u2019t heard her voice in three years.<\/p>\n
Dad folded inward beside me.<\/p>\n
Vanessa answered.<\/p>\n
She accused Mom of searching through her things.<\/p>\n
Mom accused her of stealing.<\/p>\n
Grant joined them.<\/p>\n
The argument sharpened.<\/p>\n
Mom said she had contacted a lawyer.<\/p>\n
She said the evidence would go to me.<\/p>\n
A chair scraped.<\/p>\n
Vanessa complained that Mom always chose me.<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s answer was quiet.<\/p>\n
She chose the daughter who hadn\u2019t stolen from her.<\/p>\n
Then came a crash.<\/p>\n
Mom gasped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you give me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad rose halfway from his chair.<\/p>\n
The recording continued.<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s breathing became labored.<\/p>\n
Vanessa mentioned prescription bottles.<\/p>\n
Grant told her to remove them.<\/p>\n
Then Mom fell.<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Her voice came from the speaker, frightened and weak.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall an ambulance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanessa started crying.<\/p>\n
She said they hadn\u2019t meant for this to happen.<\/p>\n
Grant wanted to know where the evidence was.<\/p>\n
Mom refused to tell him.<\/p>\n
He asked again.<\/p>\n
She finally said I had it.<\/p>\n
I opened my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked at me.<\/p>\n
On the recording, Grant apparently said the same thing.<\/p>\n
Mom insisted I would find it.<\/p>\n
Then Vanessa asked whether she should call emergency services.<\/p>\n
Grant said no.<\/p>\n
Not yet.<\/p>\n
Twenty-three minutes passed before anyone called.<\/p>\n
Twenty-three minutes while my mother begged.<\/p>\n
Twenty-three minutes while two people searched for evidence instead of helping her.<\/p>\n
When the recording ended, nobody in the room spoke.<\/p>\n
Dad bent forward and covered his face.<\/p>\n
I stared at the black computer screen.<\/p>\n
Mom had said I possessed the original.<\/p>\n
I had no idea what she meant.<\/p>\n
Then a memory surfaced.<\/p>\n
A package.<\/p>\n
One week before her death.<\/p>\n
Small, square, heavier than expected.<\/p>\n
Inside had been the blue music box from my childhood.<\/p>\n
I had been busy.<\/p>\n
I hadn\u2019t opened it properly.<\/p>\n
After the funeral I had shoved the entire package into the back of my bedroom closet because looking at anything from Mom hurt too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music box.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached for my phone.<\/p>\n
Eleven hours away.<\/p>\n
I considered calling my neighbor.<\/p>\n
Before I could, a notification appeared.<\/p>\n
Motion detected.<\/p>\n
Back door.<\/p>\n
I opened my security application.<\/p>\n
A man stepped into my house.<\/p>\n
He used a key.<\/p>\n
He wore a dark coat and carried a bag.<\/p>\n
Dad moved closer.<\/p>\n
The man turned enough for the camera to catch his face.<\/p>\n
Dad stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
I recognized him too.<\/p>\n
Harold Pike.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s closest friend.<\/p>\n
The man whose supposed medical emergency had removed Dad from Mom\u2019s house on the night she died.<\/p>\n
Harold walked directly toward my bedroom.<\/p>\n
Then he raised his phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m inside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He paused to listen.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell Grant to stop panicking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s face went gray.<\/p>\n
Harold continued toward my bedroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll destroy the original before Natalie gets back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCall the police.\u201d Dad was already dialing. His hands shook so badly he nearly dropped the phone. A woman answered. Dad didn\u2019t introduce himself. \u201cThey found the red folder.\u201d The … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18328,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18278\/revisions\/18328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}