“YOU SHOULD HAVE SIGNED EVERYTHING!” My Own Daughter Pushed My Wheelchair Into the Dark Water to Steal My Fortune—But She Never Saw the Red Button Beneath My Armrest.

"There has to be another Dr. Peter Laird," I said.

Miriam turned the tablet toward me. "Same license number. Same old clinic address. His obituary is still online."

For a long moment the monitors beside my bed were the only things making noise.

"Can a dead doctor take away my right to make decisions?"

"Not legally," Miriam said. "But a fraudulent document can cause real damage before somebody catches it. We're going to challenge this immediately."

A police detective named Rosa Bell arrived before dawn. She listened without interrupting, asked how much I could remember, and photographed the bruise across my collarbone. She didn't promise an arrest. The lake had washed away most physical evidence, and Audrey claimed the wheelchair brakes were defective.

"She has access to your finances?" Bell asked.

"Too much access."

"And you accused her of stealing before tonight?"

"Yes."

Bell wrote that down. "That gives us a possible motive. It doesn't prove she pushed you. I need the dock footage and the chair itself."

At seven, Delia called Miriam. The marina's main security system was missing eleven minutes of recordings, including the time I went into the lake. Somebody had logged in remotely using my administrator account while I was outside on the dock.

"I haven't used that account in months," I said. "Audrey has the passwords."

Miriam told Delia not to touch the computer again and to preserve its logs for the police.

An hour later, Audrey came to my hospital room carrying coffee and a paper bag of my favorite breakfast rolls. She looked tired now, which made her resemble the girl who used to wait up when I worked late.

"I know you're scared," she said. "But if you keep making these accusations, they'll think you need supervision. I can protect you."

"Did you write that doctor's letter?"

Her eyes slid toward Miriam.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Miriam stood. "Then you won't mind explaining why your attorney submitted it."