Chapter 4 - The Empty House
Our housekeeper, Rosa, met Detective Ortiz in the hospital cafeteria that afternoon.
I watched through the glass wall from a wheelchair because Dr. Patel refused to let me walk farther than the hallway.
Rosa twisted a paper cup between her hands.
"Mr. Ryan said there was a private business meeting," she told Ortiz. "He told me, the gardener, and the driver to leave early."
"Was that normal?"
"No."
"Was Ms. Cole already there?"
Rosa nodded.
"She arrived around one-thirty."
"And Mr. Mercer?"
"In his office."
My skin prickled.
Ryan had been home.
He hadn't arrived after the fall.
He had been inside the whole time.
When Rosa finished, Maya rolled me back upstairs.
"He knew," she said.
"We don't know that."
"Emily."
"I know what it looks like. I just..."
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Mrs. Mercer? This is Daniel Cho from Hartwell Private Bank. I'm sorry to bother you, but we need to verify a document submitted yesterday."
"What document?"
"A temporary voting proxy for Mercer Development Holdings. It carries your electronic signature."
I gripped the blanket.
"I didn't sign anything yesterday."
Silence.
"Mrs. Mercer, the proxy transfers your voting authority to your husband for ninety days in the event of medical incapacity."
Maya heard every word.
"Send it," she said.
Five minutes later, the document appeared in my inbox.
My name sat at the bottom.
The signature looked perfect.
Too perfect.
Because I recognized it.
It had been copied from the closing papers we signed three years earlier.
Ortiz returned just as I was reading the final paragraph.
The proxy became effective if two doctors certified that I was unable to manage my affairs.
I looked up.
"Detective... Ryan didn't just want me quiet about the affair."
"What are you thinking?"
May you like
I turned the screen toward her.
"I think he expected me to end up in this hospital."
