Chapter 3 - The Dead Man's Account
Detective Lena Ortiz arrived before midnight.
She was small, sharp-eyed, and unimpressed by wealth, private rooms, or the Sterling name.
She photographed every document before touching anything.
"Tell me how your wife got this suitcase."
"Ask her when she's not having contractions," I said.
Briar managed a tired smile. "I'm still here."
Ortiz pulled a chair close to the bed.
Briar explained that she'd been helping me organize family documents before our son's birth. She found monthly payments from a Sterling Foundation account to North Pines Neurological Residence.
"The payments started eleven years ago," Briar said. "Two days after Henry Sterling was declared missing."
I felt cold.
"Declared dead six months later," I said.
She nodded.
"The patient name on the invoices was Harrison Stone. Same initials. Same birth date as your father."
Ortiz opened the medical file.
There were medication lists, neurological evaluations, and a photograph of my father sitting beside a window.
Diagnosis: chemically induced cognitive impairment, under review.
"Chemically induced?" I said.
Colleen, standing near the door, went still.
Ortiz noticed. "Nurse Hargrove?"
Colleen hesitated.
"I worked at North Pines for nine months. A long time ago."
My pulse jumped.
"Did you know my father?"
"I knew a patient called Harrison. He came in heavily sedated. Private security brought him. We were told he was dangerous and confused."
"Was he?"
Colleen looked at me.
"He kept saying his name was Henry Sterling."
The room seemed to tilt.
"Why didn't anyone listen?"
"Because a psychiatrist signed the commitment order. And your mother visited every week."
Briar started crying silently.
Ortiz flipped to the back of the file and found an envelope taped inside.
It contained a bank statement.
One account.
Balance: $18.4 million.
Account holder: Maris Sterling, trustee for Henry Sterling.
Ortiz looked at me.
"If your father was legally dead, she shouldn't have been managing a living-patient trust."
Then she unfolded the next page.
May you like
My signature was at the bottom.
I had never signed it.
