Chapter 5 - THE DOCTOR’S SIGNATURE
Detective Samuel Ward arrived at ten the next morning.
He was sixty-three, broad-shouldered, and carefully polite. His gray suit looked expensive. His eyes looked tired.
Helena greeted him with both hands.
“Samuel. Thank you for coming.”
“Of course.”
The familiarity between them was unmistakable.
Evelyn met him in the library.
Marcus sat beside her despite her request to speak privately.
Ward opened a notebook.
“Mrs. Cross, your husband says you met Daniel Price yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The Blackwood Café in Ashford.”
“What did you discuss?”
“My father’s disappearance.”
Ward paused.
“What specifically?”
“Daniel believed the boating accident was staged.”
Marcus sighed quietly.
Ward noticed.
“Did Mr. Price provide evidence?”
“A phone record and a photograph.”
“Do you have them?”
“No.”
“What happened to them?”
“Daniel kept them.”
Ward wrote something.
“What happened after your meeting?”
“Two men entered the café. I recognized one as Marcus’s driver.”
Ward looked at Marcus.
Marcus spread his hands.
“I sent Anthony to bring her home. She had taken an unregistered vehicle and disabled her phone.”
“They chased me.”
“Our driver says you ran without explanation.”
“One of them fired at me.”
“Did you see the weapon?”
“I heard a gunshot.”
“Did anyone else hear it?”
“A woman helped me escape.”
“What woman?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Miriam’s warning returned.
Do not reveal me unless your life is already lost.
“I don’t know her name.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“You spent the entire evening with a stranger whose name you never learned?”
“She saved me.”
“From our driver.”
“From someone shooting at me.”
Ward closed the notebook.
“Mrs. Cross, have you been sleeping?”
Evelyn stared at him.
“What does that have to do with Daniel?”
“Stress can affect perception.”
“There was a tracking device in my phone.”
Marcus looked surprised.
“Where is it?”
“The woman removed it.”
“So it cannot be examined,” Ward said.
“No.”
Ward and Marcus exchanged a brief glance.
Evelyn saw it.
“I also believe someone put something in my tea last night.”
She placed the jar on the table.
Marcus stood.
“That is enough.”
Ward raised one hand.
“Let her finish.”
Evelyn described the silver earring.
Marcus laughed in disbelief.
“Silver tarnishes for dozens of reasons.”
“Then test it.”
Ward picked up the jar.
“I can have the laboratory examine it.”
Helena entered the library carrying a folder.
“There is something you should see first.”
She placed the folder in front of Ward.
Inside was a letter from Doctor Adrian Voss, the Cross family physician.
The letter stated that Evelyn had recently exhibited paranoia, memory loss, impulsive behavior, and possible delusions connected to unresolved grief.
At the bottom was Doctor Voss’s signature.
Evelyn read it twice.
“I have not seen Doctor Voss in six months.”
Marcus’s voice softened.
“He has spoken with you by phone.”
“No, he hasn’t.”
“You may not remember.”
The sentence was delivered gently.
Ward avoided her eyes.
Evelyn understood the trap.
Every denial became evidence.
Every objection became instability.
“You planned this,” she said.
Marcus’s expression filled with sadness.
“This is exactly why I asked Doctor Voss to help.”
Ward stood.
“I think we should pause.”
“Are you taking the tea?”
“Yes.”
“And investigating Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Will you question Marcus’s driver?”
Ward hesitated.
“I’ll speak with him.”
Evelyn knew he would not.
After Ward left, Marcus closed the library doors.
Helena poured herself a drink.
“You embarrassed yourself,” she said.
Evelyn faced Marcus.
“You forged that letter.”
“Doctor Voss wrote it.”
“Why?”
“Because he is concerned.”
“You are trying to have me declared incompetent.”
Marcus’s silence answered.
The company bylaws gave Evelyn controlling authority as long as she remained mentally and legally capable. If a physician and court agreed she could not manage her affairs, temporary control would pass to her spouse.
Marcus had spent years positioning himself for that moment.
“You won’t succeed,” she said.
Helena smiled.
“My dear, it has already begun.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Sign temporary control to me voluntarily. Six months. You can rest, travel, recover.”
“And if I refuse?”
His gaze moved toward the basement door at the end of the hallway.
It lasted less than a second.
Evelyn noticed.
That afternoon, she called Doctor Voss’s office from a secure line.
The receptionist sounded confused.
“Doctor Voss is unavailable.”
“When will he return?”
There was a pause.
“Mrs. Cross, Doctor Voss died three weeks ago.”
Evelyn gripped the phone.
“How?”
“A heart attack.”
“Did he sign any letters concerning me before his death?”
“I wouldn’t have access to confidential records.”
“Who collected his files?”
“Your husband’s legal office requested copies related to the family.”
Evelyn ended the call.
A dead doctor had signed a letter dated four days earlier.
She photographed the document in Helena’s folder and sent it to Miriam.
The reply came within a minute.
LEAVE THE HOUSE NOW.
Evelyn turned toward the library doors.
They were locked from the outside.
Footsteps approached.
Marcus spoke through the wood.
“I hoped you would choose the easy way.”
A key entered the lock.
Evelyn backed toward the window.
The door opened.
Marcus stood there with Helena and two men wearing white medical uniforms.
May you like
One carried a leather restraint bag.
The other held a syringe.
