I had spent thirteen years remembering Richard's death as a sequence of ordinary horrors.<\/p>\n
The sound from the bathroom.<\/p>\n
My bare feet against the hallway floor.<\/p>\n
Richard sitting against the wall, one hand pressed to his chest.<\/p>\n
The telephone slipping in my fingers while I called 911.<\/p>\n
His skin turning gray.<\/p>\n
The paramedic moving me aside.<\/p>\n
The hospital doctor using the phrase massive cardiac event.<\/p>\n
Now every remembered second seemed contaminated by a question.<\/p>\n
How had Robert Kane known?<\/p>\n
Thomas drove me home.<\/p>\n
Neither of us spoke until we reached the gate.<\/p>\n
Evelyn's car was already in my driveway.<\/p>\n
She opened the front door before I reached it.<\/p>\n
One look at my face and she stopped asking questions.<\/p>\n
She simply put her arms around me.<\/p>\n
I let her.<\/p>\n
Later, after Thomas explained what David had said, Evelyn asked the question I had been avoiding.<\/p>\n
"Could Kane have known Richard was sick before Richard himself knew?"<\/p>\n
Thomas answered.<\/p>\n
"Possibly."<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
"If someone had called him."<\/p>\n
I looked at the clock.<\/p>\n
"Richard woke me around five-forty that morning."<\/p>\n
The memory came slowly.<\/p>\n
"He said he felt strange."<\/p>\n
"Chest pain?"<\/p>\n
"Not then."<\/p>\n
"He was sweating?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Nauseous?"<\/p>\n
"I think so."<\/p>\n
"What did you do?"<\/p>\n
"I told him we should go to the hospital."<\/p>\n
"What did he say?"<\/p>\n
I could hear Richard's voice.<\/p>\n
Don't fuss, Maggie. Give me ten minutes.<\/p>\n
"He refused."<\/p>\n
"When did he go to the bathroom?"<\/p>\n
"About six."<\/p>\n
"And you called 911 at 6:17."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote the times down.<\/p>\n
"Did Richard make any calls?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Check old telephone records."<\/p>\n
Thirteen years was a long time.<\/p>\n
But Thomas had already learned not to assume old records were gone.<\/p>\n
The landline provider could not promise anything.<\/p>\n
Our cellular carrier was more useful.<\/p>\n
Richard had used a mobile phone.<\/p>\n
Archived billing statements existed in old estate files.<\/p>\n
Mercer had copies.<\/p>\n
At 5:51 the morning Richard died, Richard placed a call.<\/p>\n
Not to Kane.<\/p>\n
Not to Mercer.<\/p>\n
To Michael.<\/p>\n
Duration: four minutes, twelve seconds.<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"Michael knew Dad was sick."<\/p>\n
"Maybe," Thomas said.<\/p>\n
"He called him."<\/p>\n
"That establishes contact, not content."<\/p>\n
I knew.<\/p>\n
Evidence.<\/p>\n
Always evidence.<\/p>\n
At 5:58, Michael called another number.<\/p>\n
Robert Kane.<\/p>\n
Duration: two minutes.<\/p>\n
Kane called David at 6:03.<\/p>\n
The sequence sat on the table like a row of dominoes.<\/p>\n
Richard to Michael.<\/p>\n
Michael to Kane.<\/p>\n
Kane to David.<\/p>\n
Then me to 911.<\/p>\n
"Michael told Kane," I said.<\/p>\n
Thomas did not disagree.<\/p>\n
"But why ask David about an ambulance?"<\/p>\n
"Maybe Kane assumed Richard's condition would worsen."<\/p>\n
"Or knew it would."<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at me carefully.<\/p>\n
"Don't outrun the evidence."<\/p>\n
I hated him for saying it.<\/p>\n
Then I loved him for saying it.<\/p>\n
Because I needed somebody who would not feed my fear simply because it was dramatic.<\/p>\n
Detective Ruiz called that afternoon.<\/p>\n
She wanted Richard's complete medical records.<\/p>\n
I signed the authorization.<\/p>\n
His cardiologist had retired, but the practice still held archived files.<\/p>\n
The records arrived the following morning.<\/p>\n
Richard had significant coronary artery disease.<\/p>\n
That was not new.<\/p>\n
But one note surprised me.<\/p>\n
His cardiologist had prescribed nitroglycerin tablets to use during chest pain.<\/p>\n
I remembered the little brown bottle.<\/p>\n
Richard kept it in the bathroom cabinet.<\/p>\n
"Was it there that morning?" Thomas asked.<\/p>\n
"I don't remember."<\/p>\n
I tried.<\/p>\n
Richard on the bathroom floor.<\/p>\n
Cabinet door open.<\/p>\n
A glass near the sink.<\/p>\n
Something orange beside it?<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
Memory was not a photograph.<\/p>\n
I refused to manufacture clarity.<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
The autopsy question came next.<\/p>\n
There had been none.<\/p>\n
His death had appeared natural.<\/p>\n
Known cardiac disease.<\/p>\n
No trauma.<\/p>\n
No reason for suspicion.<\/p>\n
A toxicology panel had not been performed.<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
"So we'll never know."<\/p>\n
"Not necessarily."<\/p>\n
"He's buried, Thomas."<\/p>\n
He said nothing.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"I haven't suggested anything."<\/p>\n
"You were thinking it."<\/p>\n
"I was thinking that exhumation exists as an investigative option."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
The word came immediately.<\/p>\n
Richard had been buried beside his parents.<\/p>\n
I imagined strangers opening the grave.<\/p>\n
I couldn't.<\/p>\n
Not yet.<\/p>\n
Ruiz did not push.<\/p>\n
Instead, she investigated the medication.<\/p>\n
The pharmacy records showed Richard filled nitroglycerin twelve days before his death.<\/p>\n
Thirty tablets.<\/p>\n
The bottle recovered with his personal effects after death contained twenty-eight.<\/p>\n
Two used or missing.<\/p>\n
Nothing unusual.<\/p>\n
Then the pharmacist found another prescription.<\/p>\n
A beta blocker.<\/p>\n
Richard had taken it for years.<\/p>\n
The refill history was regular.<\/p>\n
But five days before his death, someone requested an early refill.<\/p>\n
"Who?" I asked.<\/p>\n
The pharmacy could not tell.<\/p>\n
The request had been made by telephone.<\/p>\n
It was never picked up.<\/p>\n
"Why request it?"<\/p>\n
"Maybe Richard lost his medication," Thomas said.<\/p>\n
"He didn't."<\/p>\n
"Do you remember?"<\/p>\n
"I filled his pill organizer."<\/p>\n
That was one memory I trusted.<\/p>\n
Every Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
Richard hated sorting tablets.<\/p>\n
I did it while he washed dinner dishes.<\/p>\n
"He had enough."<\/p>\n
Ruiz requested the pharmacy's archived call notes.<\/p>\n
A technician had written:<\/p>\n
Daughter requesting medication list and dosage confirmation. States helping father organize prescriptions.<\/p>\n
Daughter.<\/p>\n
My body went cold.<\/p>\n
"Which daughter?"<\/p>\n
No name recorded.<\/p>\n
Jennifer or Lisa.<\/p>\n
I called Lisa with Thomas present.<\/p>\n
"Did you ever call Dad's pharmacy before he died?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Think."<\/p>\n
"I didn't even know which pharmacy he used."<\/p>\n
"Did Jennifer?"<\/p>\n
Lisa hesitated.<\/p>\n
"Probably."<\/p>\n
"Why probably?"<\/p>\n
"She helped him with insurance paperwork once."<\/p>\n
Thomas asked, "Did Jennifer ever ask you about Richard's medications?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Around the time he died."<\/p>\n
My fingers tightened.<\/p>\n
"Before or after?"<\/p>\n
"Before."<\/p>\n
"What did she ask?"<\/p>\n
"Whether one of his heart medicines could make him dizzy."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"She said Dad almost fell."<\/p>\n
I remembered no fall.<\/p>\n
"Did you see him fall?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did Jennifer?"<\/p>\n
"She said she did."<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote it down.<\/p>\n
We called Jennifer.<\/p>\n
She answered on the third ring.<\/p>\n
"Mom."<\/p>\n
"Did you call Dad's pharmacy five days before he died?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
"Why are you asking me this?"<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
Never yes or no when yes or no would do.<\/p>\n
"Did you?"<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"He was having side effects."<\/p>\n
"What side effects?"<\/p>\n
"Dizziness."<\/p>\n
"Did you see him fall?"<\/p>\n
"Almost."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"At his office."<\/p>\n
"Which office?"<\/p>\n
She hesitated.<\/p>\n
"Mercer's."<\/p>\n
Thomas looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Was Kane there?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did Dad ask you to call the pharmacy?"<\/p>\n
"I think so."<\/p>\n
"You think?"<\/p>\n
"It was thirteen years ago."<\/p>\n
"Did you know his dosages?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you tell Kane about them?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
My heart sank.<\/p>\n
"Jennifer."<\/p>\n
"He asked what Dad was taking."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"He said he was worried about him."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Robert Kane.<\/p>\n
Worried.<\/p>\n
"What did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
"That Dad took heart medication."<\/p>\n
"Names?"<\/p>\n
"I might have mentioned one."<\/p>\n
"Which?"<\/p>\n
"I don't remember."<\/p>\n
"Try."<\/p>\n
She became defensive.<\/p>\n
"I wasn't memorizing medication names."<\/p>\n
"Did you send him a photograph?"<\/p>\n
No response.<\/p>\n
"Jennifer?"<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
I felt sick.<\/p>\n
"Why would you photograph your father's prescriptions for Robert Kane?"<\/p>\n
"He said he knew a cardiologist."<\/p>\n
Thomas closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
Even Jennifer seemed to hear how bad it sounded once spoken aloud.<\/p>\n
"He said Dad shouldn't be driving if he was dizzy."<\/p>\n
"So you sent his medication information to the man blackmailing him?"<\/p>\n
"I didn't understand everything then."<\/p>\n
"You understood Dad didn't trust him."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"That should have been enough."<\/p>\n
Jennifer started crying.<\/p>\n
I did not comfort her.<\/p>\n
"Did Kane ask about nitroglycerin?"<\/p>\n
"I don't remember."<\/p>\n
"Did he ever ask where Dad kept his medicine?"<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
My hand went numb.<\/p>\n
"What did you say?"<\/p>\n
"Bathroom."<\/p>\n
"Which bathroom?"<\/p>\n
"At home."<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote rapidly.<\/p>\n
"How would Kane get into my house?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Did you give him a garage remote?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you ever give Michael one?"<\/p>\n
"Michael already had one."<\/p>\n
That was true.<\/p>\n
At least years earlier.<\/p>\n
"Did Kane ever borrow your car?"<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"Your Lexus."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did he have access to it?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you come here the night before Dad died?"<\/p>\n
Jennifer stopped crying.<\/p>\n
"Who told you?"<\/p>\n
"David Cole."<\/p>\n
She swore.<\/p>\n
"So yes."<\/p>\n
"I came to talk to Dad."<\/p>\n
"About what?"<\/p>\n
"Michael."<\/p>\n
"What about him?"<\/p>\n
"Dad was going to report him."<\/p>\n
"To police?"<\/p>\n
"To federal investigators."<\/p>\n
"Why did you care?"<\/p>\n
"Because Michael had children."<\/p>\n
"So did you."<\/p>\n
"Mom."<\/p>\n
"What did you ask Dad to do?"<\/p>\n
"Give Michael time."<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
"He refused."<\/p>\n
"Was he sick?"<\/p>\n
"He looked exhausted."<\/p>\n
"Did he have chest pain?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you give him anything?"<\/p>\n
Her voice sharpened.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Medication?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Food? Drink?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you let Kane into the house?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you open the garage remotely after leaving?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you tell Kane you had been here?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"From my car."<\/p>\n
"What did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
"That Dad wouldn't change his mind."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Jennifer had left.<\/p>\n
Called Kane.<\/p>\n
Kane arrived less than an hour later.<\/p>\n
"Did you know Kane was coming?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
That answer sounded immediate.<\/p>\n
Maybe true.<\/p>\n
Maybe not.<\/p>\n
"Did he call you afterward?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Late."<\/p>\n
"What did he say?"<\/p>\n
Jennifer hesitated.<\/p>\n
"He said everything had been handled."<\/p>\n
The room seemed to tilt.<\/p>\n
"Handled how?"<\/p>\n
"I asked."<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
"He said Dad finally understood what was at stake."<\/p>\n
"Did he mention Dad being ill?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did he mention medication?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did you speak to Kane the next morning?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"What time?"<\/p>\n
"I don't remember."<\/p>\n
Phone records would.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"He called me."<\/p>\n
"What did he say?"<\/p>\n
Jennifer began crying harder.<\/p>\n
"He told me not to go to the house."<\/p>\n
My skin went cold.<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know. Six-something."<\/p>\n
"Before I called you about Dad?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
"Jennifer."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Thomas stood.<\/p>\n
"What exactly did Kane say?"<\/p>\n
She struggled to answer.<\/p>\n
"He said, 'Your father had a rough night. Stay away until you hear from your mother.'"<\/p>\n
My breath left me.<\/p>\n
Kane knew Richard had a rough night.<\/p>\n
Before I told anyone.<\/p>\n
"Why didn't you ask how he knew?"<\/p>\n
"I did."<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
"He said Michael called him."<\/p>\n
So back to Michael.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
I called him.<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
Thomas advised me to stop.<\/p>\n
"We have phone records. Ruiz can question him."<\/p>\n
I put the phone down.<\/p>\n
Two hours later, Ruiz came to the house.<\/p>\n
She had obtained additional billing records.<\/p>\n
At 5:51, Richard called Michael.<\/p>\n
At 5:58, Michael called Kane.<\/p>\n
At 6:03, Kane called David.<\/p>\n
At 6:05, Kane called Jennifer.<\/p>\n
Jennifer's memory had been right.<\/p>\n
At 6:17, I called 911.<\/p>\n
At 6:19, Michael called Richard.<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
At 6:22, Michael called me.<\/p>\n
I had not answered because paramedics were arriving.<\/p>\n
At 6:27, Michael called Kane again.<\/p>\n
Ruiz tapped the page.<\/p>\n
"This sequence establishes communication. It does not establish what was said."<\/p>\n
"I understand."<\/p>\n
She looked almost surprised.<\/p>\n
"I'm learning."<\/p>\n
Then she placed another record on the table.<\/p>\n
"What is that?"<\/p>\n
"Richard's medical office fax log."<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
"Why does that matter?"<\/p>\n
"Someone requested his cardiac records two weeks before his death."<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
"The request claimed to come from a consulting physician."<\/p>\n
"Name?"<\/p>\n
"Dr. Alan Pierce."<\/p>\n
Thomas frowned.<\/p>\n
"Do you know him?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Ruiz did.<\/p>\n
"There was no licensed cardiologist by that name at the address listed."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"Fake."<\/p>\n
"Apparently."<\/p>\n
"Who sent the request?"<\/p>\n
"We're tracing it."<\/p>\n
"Did the doctor's office release the records?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Where were they faxed?"<\/p>\n
Ruiz turned the page.<\/p>\n
A number.<\/p>\n
Thomas recognized the area code.<\/p>\n
Mercer did too when we called him.<\/p>\n
"That's Kane's old office exchange."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
Kane had obtained Richard's medical records.<\/p>\n
Before visiting my house.<\/p>\n
Before Richard died.<\/p>\n
Ruiz remained careful.<\/p>\n
"Again, that may establish privacy violations or fraud. It does not establish homicide."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
But the possibility was no longer something I could pretend did not exist.<\/p>\n
That evening, Evelyn stayed with me.<\/p>\n
I went into the bathroom where Richard had collapsed.<\/p>\n
The room had been renovated since then.<\/p>\n
New tile.<\/p>\n
New cabinet.<\/p>\n
Different paint.<\/p>\n
But I still knew where he had sat.<\/p>\n
I stood there until Evelyn appeared in the doorway.<\/p>\n
"You don't have to solve it tonight."<\/p>\n
"I lived thirteen years without knowing there was anything to solve."<\/p>\n
She came beside me.<\/p>\n
"Maybe there isn't."<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Would that be easier?"<\/p>\n
"Wouldn't it?"<\/p>\n
I thought about Richard.<\/p>\n
If he had simply died because his damaged heart finally failed, then tragedy remained tragedy.<\/p>\n
If another person had accelerated it deliberately, grief became something else.<\/p>\n
But I realized there was a third possibility.<\/p>\n
Kane could have frightened him.<\/p>\n
Threatened him.<\/p>\n
Pushed a sick man through a night of unbearable stress.<\/p>\n
Morally ugly.<\/p>\n
Not necessarily murder.<\/p>\n
"I don't know what I want the answer to be."<\/p>\n
"You don't get to choose."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
That was the lesson beneath everything.<\/p>\n
I could not choose who my children had become.<\/p>\n
Could not choose what Richard had hidden.<\/p>\n
Could not choose what Kane had done.<\/p>\n
Only what I did after knowing.<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Detective Ruiz.<\/p>\n
"We found the source of the fake medical-record request."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
"It was faxed from a business center."<\/p>\n
"Can you identify who used it?"<\/p>\n
"We have an archived payment record."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
"Name?"<\/p>\n
"Michael Harris."<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
My son had helped Kane obtain his father's medical records.<\/p>\n
"What did Michael say?"<\/p>\n
"We haven't questioned him yet."<\/p>\n
"Why not?"<\/p>\n
"Because there's another detail."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"The payment card wasn't Michael's."<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
"It belonged to Jennifer."<\/p>\n
I had spent thirteen years remembering Richard's death as a sequence of ordinary horrors. The sound from the bathroom. My bare feet against the hallway floor. Richard sitting against the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26812","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\/26812","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=26812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26847,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26812\/revisions\/26847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}