Chapter 7 - What Margaret Knew
Margaret cried during the rest of the interview.
At first, the tears made Nora angry.
Margaret was safe in a Barcelona hotel. She had water, electricity, food, and medication. She had spent the first week of the trip visiting churches and restaurants while Nora fought to remain alive.
But as the interview continued, Margaret’s certainty began to collapse.
“Jason told me Nora had asked him to prepare,” she said. “He said the doctors were more worried than they admitted.”
“You attended no medical appointments,” Laura reminded her.
“No.”
“You spoke to Nora the morning of the trip?”
“I called from downstairs.”
“Did she sound as though she expected to die?”
Margaret lowered her head.
“No.”
“Why didn’t you go upstairs?”
“Jason said she had finally fallen asleep.”
“What did he tell you about the storage unit?”
“That Nora wanted certain personal items removed before distant relatives could take them.”
“Which relatives?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Did that seem reasonable?”
“At the time.”
Elise spoke sharply.
“It never seemed reasonable.”
Margaret turned toward her daughter.
“You didn’t say anything.”
“I asked why Jason was discussing Nora’s death before we had even left. You told me not to create drama.”
Margaret flinched.
Colin moved into view.
“Detective, I want to know whether my son tried to kill his wife.”
Laura answered without softening the words.
“The evidence indicates that Jason deliberately deprived Nora of medication and confined her inside a disabled house. We believe he expected her condition to become fatal.”
Colin sat down heavily.
Margaret covered her face.
Nora watched from another secure video connection, unseen by the Hale family. Laura had asked whether she wanted to appear. Nora declined.
She needed to hear what they said when they believed she could not hear them.
“Where is the key?” Laura asked.
Margaret reached into her purse and removed a small brass key attached to a white tag.
The number 317 was printed on it.
Spanish police temporarily collected the key and transferred its identifying information to Laura’s team. The storage company was located twenty minutes from the Hale house.
A warrant was obtained that afternoon.
Laura returned to Nora’s hospital room after midnight.
“What did you find?”
“Your medication.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“All of it?”
“Every bottle removed from the house. They were packed inside a cooler.”
“Why keep them?”
“To prove he possessed them, perhaps. Or because someone instructed him not to destroy evidence until the first phase was complete.”
“What else?”
“Copies of the forged documents. Utility records. Photographs of your doors and windows. A funeral home brochure.”
Nora looked away.
Laura continued carefully.
“There was also a folder containing reports about your health.”
“My medical records?”
“Some were medical records. Others were notes Jason made about your symptoms.”
“What kind of notes?”
“Dates when you had difficulty walking. Times when you slept for several hours. Information about which friends visited you.”
“He was studying me.”
“Yes.”
Nora’s anger hardened into something more useful.
“Was Celeste connected to the unit?”
“The rental agreement used a false name, but the payment came from Jason’s account.”
“So it was his.”
“We also recovered a black phone.”
“The one he used after leaving his main phone at the airport.”
“We believe so.”
“Have you opened it?”
“It’s encrypted.”
“Jason always uses dates as passwords.”
“Which dates?”
“Our wedding anniversary. His mother’s birthday. The date his grandfather died.”
Laura made a note.
“There was one other item.”
She placed a photograph on the blanket.
It showed a small digital recorder with a strip of white tape across its surface.
Written on the tape were the words Day 1.
“Did you listen to it?” Nora asked.
“Yes.”
“What’s on it?”
“Jason’s voice.”
Nora waited.
Laura seemed reluctant to continue.
“Please.”
“The recording begins inside your house after the family car left.”
Nora’s fingers curled into the blanket.
“What did he say?”
“He was speaking to a woman on the phone.”
“Celeste?”
“We don’t know.”
“What were the words?”
Laura opened her notebook.
“Jason said, ‘She’s inside. The house is closed. We have seventy-four days.’”
Nora felt as though she had returned to the kitchen floor.
“What did the woman say?”
“She told him to remove the medicine and leave the organizer where you would find it.”
“Why?”
“Jason asked the same question.”
Laura paused.
“The woman answered, ‘Because she must understand who did this before the end.’”
Nora stared at her.
“This wasn’t only about money.”
“It may not have been.”
“Did she say anything else?”
“Near the end of the recording, she called you by a name.”
“What name?”
“Nori.”
The room became silent.
Laura noticed the change in Nora’s face.
“Who calls you that?”
“No one.”
“Someone did.”
“My mother.”
“Anyone else?”
“No. She invented it when I was little.”
“Could Celeste have heard her use it?”
“Yes.”
“Could Jason?”
Nora shook her head.
“I never told him.”
Laura closed the notebook.
“There is one final line.”
Nora wished she could tell Laura to stop.
Instead, she asked, “What was it?”
“The woman told Jason not to worry about the police.”
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“Why?”
“She said, ‘By the time they understand the house, Nora will be begging us to finish what Evelyn started.’”
