Chapter 6 - THE WRONG PILLS
The nurse stopped immediately.
“What do you mean?”
Mom pointed at the small yellow tablet. “Mine is white.”
The nurse checked the electronic chart.
Then she frowned.
“You’re right.”
Within minutes, a supervisor was in the room.
The cup had been prepared for another patient with a similar last name. Hospital error, they said. No pill had been swallowed. No harm done.
Maybe it really was an innocent mistake.
But after the pool, after the notebook, after the threat, innocent mistakes no longer felt innocent.
Detective Ortiz had the hospital preserve the medication cup and security footage.
Then she told me something worse.
“Bianca called the hospital this morning.”
I stared at her. “Why?”
“She asked what time your mother might be discharged.”
My anger came so fast I had to stand up and walk to the window.
“She’s not allowed near her.”
“She didn’t come near her. She just asked questions.”
That was Bianca’s talent.
She never crossed the line in a way that looked obvious.
That night, I brought Mom home. Ortiz recommended a temporary security company, and I agreed before she finished the sentence. Two cameras went up at the gates. Another covered the pool. Motion sensors were added to the first-floor windows.
At 11:30 p.m., I sat at the kitchen table with Dad’s trust documents spread around me.
One clause caught my eye.
Upon Martha’s death, the trust assets would pass to me outright unless I was married, in which case certain real-estate holdings could be transferred into a marital asset structure if I elected to do so.
I had recently told Bianca I planned to do exactly that after the wedding.
I thought it was romantic.
One life. One home. One future.
I had even scheduled an appointment with my attorney to update my estate plan after the honeymoon.
Bianca knew the date.
My phone buzzed.
An email from my attorney, Martin Shaw.
Subject: DOCUMENTS YOU REQUESTED.
I opened it.
Attached was a draft spousal trust agreement.
My name was on it.
Bianca’s name was on it.
May you like
And the email said Martin had received my signed approval three days earlier.
I had never seen the document before.
