Chapter 8 - Midnight on Route Nine)
Ethan went to the diner.
He also ignored Rebecca in only one respect.
He did not bring uniformed police officers.
But two detectives waited in an unmarked car across the highway.
Aaron Voss arrived twelve minutes late.
He was fifty one, thin, exhausted, and looked over his shoulder before sitting.
"You told them," he said.
Ethan did not pretend otherwise.
"They're staying outside."
Aaron almost left.
Ethan put Olivia's altered chart on the table.
"If you walk away, I give them this."
Aaron sat again.
"I didn't kill your wife."
"Then tell me who did."
"No one planned to kill her."
Ethan's voice went low.
"Choose your next words carefully."
Aaron rubbed both hands over his face.
"Your mother came to me because I owed Malcolm Reed money."
"Malcolm?"
"He financed private poker games. I got in too deep."
Ethan remembered Malcolm's voice on Olivia's recording.
"What did Beatrice want?"
"She wanted access to Olivia's chart."
"Why?"
"She said Olivia was taking medication she wasn't supposed to be taking."
"Was that true?"
"No."
"Then what did you change?"
Aaron stared at the table.
"I gave her temporary access through an inactive physician profile."
"Peter Lowell."
"Yes."
"You let my mother into my wife's medical file."
"Yes."
"What did she change?"
"I didn't know until afterward."
Ethan leaned forward.
"Tell me."
"She removed the warning that would have automatically stopped Olivia's anticoagulant before surgery."
Ethan could hear his own heartbeat.
"And the medication order?"
"Same access."
"Did Beatrice enter it?"
Aaron shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Who else had the password?"
"Malcolm."
Ethan frowned.
"Why would Malcolm Reed have access to a hospital system?"
"He didn't directly. He had the credentials because Beatrice sent them to him."
"How do you know?"
"I saw the messages later."
"Do you have them?"
Aaron reached inside his jacket.
Ethan tensed.
Aaron pulled out a flash drive.
"Copies."
Ethan did not touch it immediately.
"Why keep them?"
"Insurance."
"Against Beatrice?"
"Against Malcolm."
"What happened the morning Olivia died?"
Aaron's voice became quieter.
"I was on duty. There was an emergency call. By the time I reached the surgical floor, she was bleeding internally."
Ethan looked away.
"Did she say anything?"
Aaron hesitated.
"What?"
"She was conscious for about thirty seconds."
Ethan could barely speak.
"What did she say?"
"She asked for you."
He closed his eyes.
"And then?"
"She said, 'Don't let Beatrice take Noah.'"
Ethan's eyes opened.
Aaron stared at him.
"Those were the last clear words I heard her say."
For a moment Ethan could not move.
Then he took the flash drive.
"Why tell me now?"
"Because your mother called yesterday."
"What did she want?"
"She wanted the remaining copies."
"You told her you had them?"
"Years ago."
"Why didn't she take them?"
"She tried."
Aaron looked toward the window.
"Malcolm protected me."
Ethan almost laughed.
"Malcolm?"
"Not because he cared about me. Because he wanted leverage too."
"Where is he?"
Aaron's face tightened.
"I don't know."
"You worked with him."
"I haven't seen him in eleven months."
"Eleven?"
Aaron nodded.
"He disappeared right after Charles died."
Ethan's instincts sharpened.
"Did Charles meet him?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"The night before Charles changed the trust."
Ethan felt another door opening.
"What did Malcolm tell him?"
Aaron shook his head.
"I don't know."
Outside, headlights swept across the window.
Aaron's face changed.
He stood.
"No."
"What?"
"That's his car."
"Whose?"
"Malcolm's."
A black sedan entered the parking lot.
It did not stop near the diner.
It rolled slowly past.
Aaron backed away from the window.
"He knows."
"Knows what?"
"That I gave you the drive."
The sedan accelerated.
Ethan's phone rang.
Rebecca.
He answered.
Her voice came immediately.
"Ethan, where are you?"
"At the diner."
"Leave now."
"Why?"
"Police just found something at Seabrook."
"What?"
"Your father's old safe."
Ethan waited.
May you like
Rebecca's next sentence made Aaron sit down again.
"Inside was a handwritten confession signed by Malcolm Reed."
