Chapter 16 - TWO DAYS BEFORE HE DIED
Daniel refused to press play at first.
The file sat on his laptop like a live wire.
Claire folded her arms. “We need to hear it.”
“He was dying.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want my last memory of him to be some fight with her.”
Emily sat beside him.
“Then don’t listen for a memory. Listen for the truth.”
Daniel clicked play.
Thomas’s voice was weak but clear.
“Margaret, the house is Daniel’s. Stop trying to reverse it.”
Margaret answered, “You are not thinking clearly.”
“I am thinking clearly enough to know what you’ve done to Claire.”
Silence.
Then Margaret’s voice changed.
Low. Cold.
“If you humiliate me now, I will make sure Daniel believes Claire abandoned you. I will make sure he remembers your last months as chaos. Is that what you want?”
Thomas coughed.
“You’ve spent thirty years making people afraid to leave you.”
“I kept this family together.”
“No. You kept us close enough to control.”
Daniel covered his mouth.
The recording continued.
Thomas said, “I should have stopped you sooner.”
Margaret answered, “You should be careful what you say when you’re this sick.”
The file ended.
Claire stared at the screen.
Emily felt cold all over.
Daniel stood and walked to the window.
“She knew he was afraid of what she would do after he died.”
Claire nodded.
“And he was right.”
Nora listened to the recording the next morning.
“It helps establish intent and pattern,” she said. “But it also raises another issue.”
Daniel looked up.
“What issue?”
“Your father’s medical care.”
Claire’s face tightened. “You think she hurt him?”
“I think we should not jump to that conclusion.”
Emily appreciated Nora’s caution.
Then the hospital compliance officer called.
Denise Cole, the employee who accessed Emily’s miscarriage record, had confessed after being suspended.
She admitted Victor paid her $4,000 for the file.
And Victor, now facing criminal exposure, had turned over his full message archive.
Nora opened the newest batch.
One message from Margaret to Victor was dated the night before the cake incident.
IF SHE DOESN’T SIGN, PUSH HER UNTIL SHE BREAKS. I NEED DANIEL TO SEE HER AS UNSTABLE.
Daniel read it twice.
Emily looked at him.
“That cake wasn’t the plan,” she said.
“No,” Daniel whispered.
May you like
“She was trying to make me lose control first.”
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