\u201cDad, call the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI already did.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pressed a button on his phone.<\/p>\n
A woman answered almost immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found the red folder,\u201d Dad said. \u201cGrant took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d the woman replied. \u201cMy deputies are already moving toward the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSheriff Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name was familiar. Denise, my old nursing-school friend, had the same last name, although the sheriff was her aunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows about the forged power of attorney,\u201d Dad said.<\/p>\n
A police radio crackled through the speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo suspects leaving the residence. Silver SUV heading east.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer gave an order.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop them before they reach the highway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stared at the dead laptop screen.<\/p>\n
His hands were shaking.<\/p>\n
I had never seen him shake like that.<\/p>\n
Not when he lost his job.<\/p>\n
Not when doctors found a tumor in his kidney.<\/p>\n
Not even when Mom died.<\/p>\n
I thought about the red folder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened the night Mom died?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard what Grant said.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said they had to destroy something before I found out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what he meant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know more than you\u2019re telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad lowered himself into a chair.<\/p>\n
For a long time, he said nothing.<\/p>\n
Then he closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story you were told about that night wasn't true.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat story?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one Vanessa gave you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered it immediately.<\/p>\n
Dad had supposedly been away helping Harold repair storm damage at a fishing cabin.<\/p>\n
Mom had been home alone.<\/p>\n
Vanessa had supposedly arrived minutes before the ambulance.<\/p>\n
Mom had suffered a sudden heart attack.<\/p>\n
That was what I had believed for three years.<\/p>\n
Dad rubbed his hands together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn't at the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere were you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt St. Matthew\u2019s Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold had chest pains. I drove him there and stayed with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did Vanessa say you were at the cabin?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold didn't want anyone to know about the hospital. He was embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat explains Harold. It doesn't explain Vanessa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. It doesn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sheriff called again.<\/p>\n
The SUV had been stopped.<\/p>\n
A deputy reported that Vanessa and Grant were refusing to cooperate.<\/p>\n
Then another voice came over the radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found the red folder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant shouted in the background.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t take that! It belongs to me!\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanessa screamed at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew exactly what it was!\u201d<\/p>\n
A deputy reported additional items in the vehicle.<\/p>\n
Jewelry.<\/p>\n
Financial records.<\/p>\n
Prescription bottles.<\/p>\n
Approximately nine thousand dollars in cash.<\/p>\n
Dad stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prescription bottles. Whose name?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a pause.<\/p>\n
Then the answer came.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleanor Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom.<\/p>\n
Dad gripped the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHer medication disappeared the night she died. Vanessa told me the paramedics took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer\u2019s voice became firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Cole, I need you and Natalie back in town. Don't contact either suspect.\u201d<\/p>\n
We left within twenty minutes.<\/p>\n
The drive took most of the day.<\/p>\n
Dad barely spoke.<\/p>\n
Halfway there, he finally said something that made my hands tighten around the steering wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe paramedic told me your mother was probably conscious for at least thirty minutes after she collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cVanessa said Mom died immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid anyone investigate?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn't much reason to. Eleanor had a heart condition. The doctor signed the death certificate. Vanessa said she had arrived moments before the ambulance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now you don't believe her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad's voice broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know what I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
We reached the sheriff\u2019s office that night.<\/p>\n
Vanessa and Grant were being questioned separately.<\/p>\n
The red folder sat inside a clear evidence bag on a conference-room table.<\/p>\n
Beside it were Mom\u2019s prescription bottles, jewelry, financial records, the forged power of attorney, and the unsigned will Grant had taken from Dad\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer entered carrying a stack of papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis folder may be much more important than the theft.\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened the first document.<\/p>\n
It was a private investigator\u2019s report dated six days before Mom died.<\/p>\n
The investigator\u2019s name was Michael Turner.<\/p>\n
Dad stared at the page.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer placed photographs on the table.<\/p>\n
Vanessa meeting a man outside Dad\u2019s bank.<\/p>\n
Grant using Mom\u2019s credit card.<\/p>\n
Copies of checks.<\/p>\n
Cash withdrawals.<\/p>\n
Account numbers.<\/p>\n
At the bottom of one page was a handwritten note in Mom\u2019s blue ink.<\/p>\n
They have taken $61,400. I am confronting them tonight.<\/p>\n
Dad covered his mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer handed me another page.<\/p>\n
It was a letter from Mom.<\/p>\n
If anything happens to me, do not accept Vanessa\u2019s explanation. Give this folder to Natalie.<\/p>\n
My eyes blurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wrote that for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sheriff removed a small flash drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe label says there is an audio recording from the night your mother died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you listened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. We waited.\u201d<\/p>\n
She connected it to the computer.<\/p>\n
A single file appeared.<\/p>\n
The date matched the night Mom died.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Mercer pressed play.<\/p>\n
At first, there was only the faint hum of a refrigerator.<\/p>\n
Then Mom\u2019s voice came through.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know about the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanessa answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou went through my things?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stole from your father and me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe borrowed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSixty-one thousand dollars isn't borrowing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant entered the conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep your voice down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom sounded frightened but determined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called a lawyer. I'm giving everything to Natalie.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chair scraped across the floor.<\/p>\n
Vanessa\u2019s voice sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always choose her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNatalie never stole from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant cursed.<\/p>\n
Mom said, \u201cI want both of you out of my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there was a crash.<\/p>\n
Dad stood so abruptly his chair moved backward.<\/p>\n
Mom gasped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you give me?\u201d<\/p>\n
No one in the room moved.<\/p>\n
Her breathing became heavy.<\/p>\n
Vanessa whispered, \u201cShe found the bottles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant answered, \u201cThen get them away from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom called for help.<\/p>\n
She sounded confused.<\/p>\n
Terrified.<\/p>\n
Then something struck the floor.<\/p>\n
Dad turned white.<\/p>\n
Mom begged them to call an ambulance.<\/p>\n
Vanessa cried.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn't mean for this to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant's voice stayed cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the original?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom didn't answer.<\/p>\n
He asked again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you put the evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally Mom whispered:<\/p>\n
\u201cNatalie has it.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
Grant answered, \u201cShe doesn't even know what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanessa asked, \u201cShould I call 911?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Grant said. \u201cNot until she tells us where Natalie put it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For twenty-three minutes, Mom begged them to get help.<\/p>\n
They didn't.<\/p>\n
By the time the emergency call was placed, Mom had stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
Dad lowered his head.<\/p>\n
A sob escaped him.<\/p>\n
I couldn't move.<\/p>\n
I could barely breathe.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered something.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne week before Mom died,\u201d I said slowly, \u201cshe mailed me a blue music box.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was just an old keepsake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
My house was still eleven hours away.<\/p>\n
I grabbed my phone.<\/p>\n
Before I could call my neighbor, a security alert appeared.<\/p>\n
MOTION DETECTED \u2014 BACK DOOR.<\/p>\n
I opened the live camera.<\/p>\n
A man entered my house using a key.<\/p>\n
He wore a dark coat and carried an empty bag.<\/p>\n
When he turned toward the camera, Dad stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked closer.<\/p>\n
It was Harold.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s closest friend.<\/p>\n
The man who had supposedly warned us about Vanessa.<\/p>\n
The man who had carried Mom\u2019s casket.<\/p>\n
Harold walked straight toward my bedroom.<\/p>\n
He lifted his phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m inside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A voice answered through the call.<\/p>\n
Harold nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell Grant not to panic. I'll destroy the original before Natalie gets home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, call the police.\u201d \u201cI already did.\u201d He pressed a button on his phone. A woman answered almost immediately. \u201cMr. Cole?\u201d \u201cThey found the red folder,\u201d Dad said. \u201cGrant took … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6619","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\/6619","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=6619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6635,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6619\/revisions\/6635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}