Ruiz ended the call and headed for the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay here.\u201d<\/p>\n
I followed her anyway.<\/p>\n
She turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBrenda knows what happened to Helen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn't make you a detective.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruiz held my gaze for a moment before stepping aside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen do exactly what I tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n
We drove through the darkness toward Arthur's old house.<\/p>\n
The place looked different at night.<\/p>\n
The windows were black.<\/p>\n
The porch light was on.<\/p>\n
That was the first thing that bothered me.<\/p>\n
Arthur had never left that light on.<\/p>\n
Ruiz stopped two houses away.<\/p>\n
Two patrol cars were already parked without their headlights.<\/p>\n
Officers surrounded the back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is with Brenda?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don't know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
A voice came through the radio.<\/p>\n
Movement inside.<\/p>\n
Then another officer reported that the front door was locked.<\/p>\n
Ruiz raised a hand.<\/p>\n
Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
A minute later, the front door opened.<\/p>\n
Brenda stepped onto the porch.<\/p>\n
She looked older than I remembered.<\/p>\n
Her hair was loose.<\/p>\n
Her face was wet with tears.<\/p>\n
Behind her stood a man.<\/p>\n
I couldn't see him clearly.<\/p>\n
Then he stepped forward.<\/p>\n
Mark.<\/p>\n
I felt my stomach drop.<\/p>\n
Ruiz ordered them to put their hands where she could see them.<\/p>\n
Mark obeyed.<\/p>\n
Brenda did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrenda,\u201d Ruiz called, \u201cstep away from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenda looked back.<\/p>\n
Mark whispered something.<\/p>\n
She finally raised her hands.<\/p>\n
Officers moved in.<\/p>\n
Mark was already under arrest, so they separated him immediately.<\/p>\n
Brenda looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't kill Arthur.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn't answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI swear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why were you here?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked toward the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I had to find something before they did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruiz searched her.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Mark was searched too.<\/p>\n
Nothing except a key.<\/p>\n
Ruiz held it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does this open?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark said nothing.<\/p>\n
Brenda answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur's desk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruiz looked at me.<\/p>\n
Arthur's desk had been removed from the house after his death.<\/p>\n
We had stored it in the garage.<\/p>\n
The key couldn't belong to that.<\/p>\n
Brenda shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a second drawer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat second drawer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the desk.<\/p>\n
The old oak one.<\/p>\n
Arthur had always kept it locked.<\/p>\n
I had never found the key.<\/p>\n
Ruiz asked Brenda why she knew about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Helen showed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name stopped everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew Helen?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenda looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're saying Helen wasn't just Arthur's wife?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I knew that already.<\/p>\n
What I didn't know was why she had hidden the relationship.<\/p>\n
Brenda explained that she was born before Arthur met Helen.<\/p>\n
Arthur later became her stepfather.<\/p>\n
But he had treated her like his own daughter.<\/p>\n
After Helen died, Brenda blamed him.<\/p>\n
She believed Arthur had ignored warning signs.<\/p>\n
She believed he had let Helen suffer.<\/p>\n
Then, years later, she discovered the truth.<\/p>\n
Helen had not died naturally.<\/p>\n
Her medication had been altered.<\/p>\n
The official explanation was an accidental overdose.<\/p>\n
Arthur had never believed it.<\/p>\n
Neither had Brenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho altered it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
She looked at Mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's what he wanted me to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark finally spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's not what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenda turned on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lied to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI protected you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou used me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark looked away.<\/p>\n
Ruiz ordered him to remain silent.<\/p>\n
Brenda began crying again.<\/p>\n
She said Helen had discovered that money was disappearing from Arthur's accounts.<\/p>\n
She confronted someone.<\/p>\n
After that, she became afraid.<\/p>\n
She told Brenda she believed someone close to Arthur was stealing from him.<\/p>\n
Arthur investigated.<\/p>\n
The thefts led to Gerald.<\/p>\n
But Gerald wasn't working alone.<\/p>\n
There was a medical connection.<\/p>\n
Mercer had been providing prescriptions.<\/p>\n
Someone altered dosages.<\/p>\n
The scheme had been running quietly for years.<\/p>\n
Helen found out.<\/p>\n
Then she died.<\/p>\n
Arthur suspected murder.<\/p>\n
But he never had enough evidence.<\/p>\n
So he kept investigating.<\/p>\n
He created trusts.<\/p>\n
He moved property.<\/p>\n
He recorded conversations.<\/p>\n
He protected the people he believed could become targets.<\/p>\n
And he waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor twenty years?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Brenda nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew whoever killed Helen would eventually come after him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat changed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked toward the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur decided the secrets had gone on long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn't why he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenda stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen tell him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark remained silent.<\/p>\n
Ruiz asked Brenda about the night Arthur died.<\/p>\n
She said she went to the house after receiving a message.<\/p>\n
Who sent it?<\/p>\n
She didn't know.<\/p>\n
The message said Arthur had left something for her.<\/p>\n
She arrived after ten.<\/p>\n
The house was empty.<\/p>\n
She searched the bedroom.<\/p>\n
That's when she found the hidden drawer.<\/p>\n
It contained old medical records.<\/p>\n
Helen's records.<\/p>\n
Arthur's notes.<\/p>\n
And a photograph.<\/p>\n
Brenda had taken the records.<\/p>\n
Then Mark arrived.<\/p>\n
He said he was looking for the same thing.<\/p>\n
They argued.<\/p>\n
He told her Arthur had discovered who killed Helen.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenda looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer sounded impossible.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just said he discovered it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote the name down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat letter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one he left for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered Arthur's envelope.<\/p>\n
The letter I had not opened until after his death.<\/p>\n
The words had seemed strange.<\/p>\n
They were not an ordinary goodbye.<\/p>\n
They had been instructions.<\/p>\n
Protect Samuel.<\/p>\n
Trust Sarah.<\/p>\n
Do not believe the first story.<\/p>\n
At the time, I thought he was warning me about the inheritance.<\/p>\n
Now I understood.<\/p>\n
The letter was a map.<\/p>\n
Ruiz asked Brenda where the name was.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the hidden drawer.\u201d<\/p>\n
We returned inside.<\/p>\n
The bedroom smelled faintly of old wood and dust.<\/p>\n
Ruiz opened the drawer.<\/p>\n
It was empty.<\/p>\n
Brenda's face collapsed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA blue folder.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to it?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at Mark.<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who did?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
Sarah called.<\/p>\n
She had found something at our house.<\/p>\n
A blue folder.<\/p>\n
It had been hidden beneath the floorboard in Arthur's old study.<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
Arthur had known someone would search his bedroom.<\/p>\n
He had moved the real evidence before he died.<\/p>\n
Sarah read the first page over the phone.<\/p>\n
It contained Helen's medical history.<\/p>\n
The second page contained a list of payments.<\/p>\n
The third contained one name.<\/p>\n
Dr. Alan Mercer.<\/p>\n
But there was another name beneath it.<\/p>\n
Elena.<\/p>\n
Then a third.<\/p>\n
Gerald.<\/p>\n
The fourth page was handwritten.<\/p>\n
Helen knew about all three.<\/p>\n
She threatened to expose them.<\/p>\n
I asked what was on the last page.<\/p>\n
Sarah paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere's a date.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat date?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day Helen died.\u201d<\/p>\n
And beneath it:<\/p>\n
SHE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE THAT NIGHT.<\/p>\n
I felt my throat tighten.<\/p>\n
Arthur had known.<\/p>\n
Helen's death hadn't been planned for that night.<\/p>\n
Someone had made a mistake.<\/p>\n
Or someone had panicked.<\/p>\n
Sarah continued reading.<\/p>\n
The final line said:<\/p>\n
The person who gave the order was not my enemy.<\/p>\n
I stared at the dark window.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who was it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah answered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone Arthur loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruiz ended the call and headed for the door. \u201cStay here.\u201d I followed her anyway. She turned. \u201cI said stay.\u201d \u201cBrenda knows what happened to Helen.\u201d \u201cThat doesn't make you … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7621","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\/7621","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=7621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7641,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7621\/revisions\/7641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}