Chapter 19 - What Killed René Morel
The bottle from Victoire's bank box arrived with police just after sunrise.
Old evidence.
Possibly useless.
Still enough to reopen questions.
A preliminary pharmacy check showed the label belonged to René Morel.
The medication did not.
His prescribed blood-pressure tablets had been replaced with a different drug capable of dangerously raising blood pressure in someone with his condition.
An investigator explained that the bottle did not prove cause of death or who changed the pills. Elise understood.
Across the room, Sébastien sat handcuffed.
For once, he looked small.
"Did you do it?" Elise asked.
He stared at the floor.
"No."
"Did you know?"
Silence.
"Sébastien."
He finally looked up.
"Marc did."
Elise felt the room tilt.
"Why?"
"Your father discovered the ghost companies before I did. He planned to report Marc and remove me from operations because I had signed some of the early vendor approvals."
"So Marc changed his medication?"
"He told me after."
"And you stayed quiet."
Sébastien's face broke for the first time.
"I was afraid."
Elise almost shouted.
Instead she whispered, "You were rewarded."
That hurt him more.
He had been promoted two months after René died.
Marc had turned fear into partnership.
Then partnership into theft.
Elise stood.
"You could have told me."
"You were already gone."
"I was a phone call away."
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
"I know."
Outside, the morning sun touched the Mediterranean.
Police led Marc away.
Sébastien followed.
Victoire was taken separately.
Elise watched from the lobby.
Mireille came beside her.
"What happens now?"
Elise looked at the staff gathering for the morning shift.
Her father's last instruction returned to her.
May you like
Do not save the hotel by protecting the family name.
"Now," she said, "we open everything."
