Chapter 3 - What Arthur Saw Before His Stroke
Clara was transported to St. Joseph Medical Center under police escort.
Doctors placed her in intensive care.
Initial blood tests showed a powerful sedative in her system, combined with a second compound that significantly lowered heart rate and respiration.
The attending physician, Dr. Elena Patel, stared at Alex across a consultation room.
“This combination can make someone appear clinically dead without proper monitoring.”
“Who would know how to do that?”
“A physician. An anesthesiologist. Certain nurses. Someone familiar with pharmacology.”
“Could it kill her?”
“Yes.”
Alex looked through the glass wall toward Clara.
Machines breathed and beeped around her.
“How close?”
Dr. Patel hesitated.
“That isn’t a useful question.”
“It is to me.”
She met his eyes.
“Very.”
Alex nodded once.
Lily sat beside him wrapped in a hospital blanket.
She had stopped crying.
That worried him more.
Children should cry after something like this.
Silence meant fear had traveled deeper.
Alex crouched beside her.
“I need you to tell Detective Grant what you saw.”
Lily tightened her grip around her doll.
“Will Grandma be mad?”
“No one is going to hurt you.”
“Uncle Derek did.”
Alex’s jaw clenched.
“What did he do?”
Lily looked toward the hallway.
“Mommy slapped him.”
That explained the red handprint.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where were you?”
“On the stairs.”
“At home?”
She nodded.
“What happened before Mommy slapped him?”
“Uncle Derek was yelling.”
“What did he say?”
Lily squeezed her eyes shut.
Alex waited.
Finally she whispered, “Give me the drive.”
Alex looked at Grant.
“What drive?”
Lily shook her head.
“Mommy said no. Then Uncle Derek grabbed her. Mommy slapped him. Grandma came.”
“What did Grandma do?”
“She told me to go upstairs.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
For the first time, Alex almost smiled.
Clara had always said Lily inherited his stubbornness.
“I hid.”
“Where?”
“Behind the big curtain.”
“And what happened?”
“Grandma gave Mommy water.”
Alex’s expression changed.
“Water?”
“Mommy didn’t want it.”
“Did she drink?”
“Grandma made her.”
Grant leaned forward.
“How?”
Lily’s lower lip trembled.
“Uncle Derek held Mommy.”
Alex stood so abruptly his chair hit the wall.
Grant raised a hand.
“Alex.”
He walked to the window.
He needed distance from the image forming in his mind.
His mother forcing something down Clara’s throat.
His brother holding her.
His wife fighting.
His daughter watching.
Behind him, Lily continued.
“Mommy got sleepy.”
Alex turned.
“What happened then?”
“Grandpa came.”
Arthur.
“What did Grandpa do?”
“He yelled.”
“Grandpa can’t yell.”
“He tried.”
Lily nodded seriously.
“He hit Uncle Derek with his cane.”
Alex glanced at Grant.
“His stroke affected speech, not understanding.”
Lily continued.
“Then Aunt Beatrice came.”
“At our house?”
“Yes.”
“How long after?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she do?”
“She checked Mommy.”
“Checked how?”
“She put something on Mommy’s finger.”
Pulse oximeter.
“What happened after that?”
“Aunt Beatrice said Mommy was gone.”
Alex closed his eyes.
“And then?”
“Grandpa cried.”
“What did Grandma do?”
“She said you couldn’t come home.”
Alex opened his eyes.
“Why?”
Lily looked confused.
“She said Mr. Jonathan needed you in Denver.”
Grant wrote something down.
Alex felt cold move through him.
The trip.
The canceled meeting.
The timing.
Nothing was accidental.
Grant said, “We need your father’s statement.”
“He can barely speak.”
“We can work with yes-no questions.”
Arthur arrived at the hospital forty minutes later under police supervision.
Teresa had been taken to the station.
Beatrice had been detained after investigators discovered discrepancies in Clara’s death certificate.
Arthur sat in his wheelchair in a private room.
Alex knelt before him.
“Dad, did Jonathan know what was going to happen to Clara?”
Arthur’s eyes filled with anger.
He nodded.
“Yes?”
Another nod.
“Did Derek attack Clara because Jonathan told him to?”
Arthur hesitated.
Then shook his head.
“No.”
Alex frowned.
“Did Derek attack Clara for another reason?”
Yes.
“Money?”
Yes.
Grant leaned closer.
“What did Mrs. Carter find?”
Arthur pointed toward himself.
“You showed her something?”
Yes.
Alex felt his heartbeat quicken.
“What?”
Arthur struggled.
“L-l-led…”
“Ledger?”
Yes.
“What ledger?”
Arthur’s breathing became rough.
“R-red.”
“A red ledger?”
Yes.
“Where is it?”
Arthur looked toward Lily.
Then toward Alex.
“H-home.”
“At my house?”
Yes.
“Where?”
Arthur tried to speak.
The muscles in his face trembled.
“Wall.”
“What wall?”
“L-Lily.”
Lily looked up.
“Me?”
Arthur nodded.
“Room.”
Alex froze.
“The ledger is inside Lily’s bedroom wall?”
Arthur nodded urgently.
Grant stood.
“We’ll secure the house.”
Arthur suddenly grabbed Alex’s wrist.
His weakened hand was surprisingly strong.
“J-Jon…”
“Jonathan?”
Arthur’s eyes widened.
“Not... top.”
Alex leaned closer.
“What?”
“Not... top.”
“Not the top?”
Arthur nodded.
Alex felt the words settle.
Jonathan was involved.
But Jonathan was not the person in charge.
Arthur pulled him closer.
“Your... mother…”
Then the hospital fire alarm began screaming.
Red lights flashed.
Staff rushed into the corridor.
A nurse opened Arthur’s door.
“We need to evacuate this section.”
Grant stepped into the hallway.
“What happened?”
“Smoke detected in the service corridor.”
Alex looked back at Arthur.
His father’s face had gone white.
He was pointing toward the window.
Alex followed his gaze.
Across the parking structure, on the roof of an adjacent building, a man in a dark jacket was holding a phone.
May you like
Watching them.
Then the man turned and disappeared.
