Chapter 14 - THE DEATH OF EDWARD COLE
Edward Cole had died of a heart attack.
At least that was the story.
Nathan remembered the night.
His father complaining of chest pain.
His mother calling an ambulance.
Death before midnight.
Now Detective Ellis placed an audio file on the table.
“I switched the pills.”
Nathan felt the room move.
Conrad replied, “And if Nathan finds out?”
“He’ll hate me.”
“That’s why you do what I tell you.”
“Don’t assume what it means.”
Nathan almost snapped at her.
He had learned that lesson.
Ellis brought Margaret in privately.
Nathan did not hug her.
“Tell me.”
“Your father was taking medication that made him sick.”
“Why would you switch it?”
“I replaced it with the correct prescription.”
“What?”
“Your father’s doctor was giving him dangerous doses.”
“Whose doctor?”
“Dr. Mercer.”
She switched the pills back.
But Edward died anyway.
Conrad recorded her saying, “I switched the pills,” and cut away the context.
Then used it for years.
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“Because your father had just died. Conrad said he would have me charged.”
“And you believed him.”
“He owned the medical records.”
Nathan rubbed his face.
“So he blackmailed you into supporting the merger.”
“Yes.”
“And today?”
“He threatened to release the recording.”
“You chose the company.”
“I chose fear.”
“That’s what everyone chose.”
For the first time, grandmother and granddaughter saw each other.
Margaret began crying harder.
“She looks like Nathan.”
Nathan asked Ellis, “Can you prove the recording was edited?”
“We already did.”
For five years, fear had owned her.
But not the clean kind.
Then Ellis slid another file forward.
“One more thing.”
Edward Cole and Conrad Mercer outside a private hospital.
Date: two days before Edward died.
On the back, Edward had written:
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, CONRAD DID NOT ACT ALONE.
May you like
“Who else?”
“Victoria.”
