Chapter 10 - The Red Book
Elena Ruiz agreed to meet them in a church parking lot outside Charleston.
She arrived wearing sunglasses and a hooded jacket despite the warm weather.
Nathaniel remained several yards away with security personnel.
Amelia approached alone.
Elena looked exhausted.
"I should've called sooner."
"You called now."
"I was scared."
"Of Cassandra?"
"Of Dr. Cole."
Amelia's expression hardened.
Elena explained that Thomas's condition had worsened after Cassandra brought Cole into the house.
Cole changed medications.
Restricted visitors.
Limited Thomas's telephone access.
"He said your father needed quiet," Elena said.
"Did Dad agree?"
"At first."
"And later?"
"No."
Thomas began accusing Cole of giving him medication he had not prescribed.
He tried to leave Hart House.
Cassandra convinced him to rest.
Then one night Thomas asked Elena to open a desk drawer.
Inside was a red leather notebook.
"He wrote in it every day," Elena said.
"What happened to it?"
"I don't know."
"Why did he tell you to find it?"
"He said the dates mattered."
Amelia looked at Nathaniel.
Nathaniel stepped closer.
"Did Cassandra know about the notebook?"
"I think so."
"Where did Thomas keep it?"
"In his bedroom."
Cassandra still controlled Hart House.
They needed legal authority to search.
Martin applied for it.
Julian opposed it.
The court scheduled an emergency hearing for the following morning.
Cassandra arrived wearing white beneath a black coat.
She looked composed.
Julian sat beside her.
Amelia and Nathaniel sat with Martin.
The judge reviewed the trust documents privately.
Thirty minutes later she looked at Cassandra.
"Ms. Vale, were you aware the controlling shares had already been transferred?"
Cassandra's expression flickered.
"No."
Julian whispered something.
The judge continued.
"Then your asserted authority over Hart Maritime appears invalid."
Cassandra stood.
"Thomas promised me control."
"Sit down."
She sat.
The judge authorized Amelia to retrieve Thomas's personal records from Hart House.
Not company property.
Not Cassandra's belongings.
Thomas's records only.
They arrived that afternoon.
Cassandra stood in the foyer.
"You think you're winning."
Amelia removed her coat.
"This isn't a game."
"It always was."
"Maybe to you."
Cassandra smiled.
"Your father loved me."
"I never said he didn't."
That answer startled her.
Amelia continued.
"He helped raise you. He paid for your education. He trusted you."
Cassandra's smile disappeared.
"And it still wasn't enough."
Cassandra stepped forward.
"You had everything."
"You had a family."
"I had charity."
"You turned love into charity because that made it easier to hate us."
Cassandra's face tightened.
"Search the house."
Amelia walked upstairs.
Thomas's bedroom felt wrong.
The curtains were closed.
Medical equipment remained beside the bed.
A half-empty water glass sat on the table.
His slippers were beneath a chair.
Amelia touched the bedpost.
For one terrible second she imagined him calling for her.
Nathaniel entered quietly.
She wiped her eyes.
"No red book."
They searched drawers.
Cabinets.
Closets.
Nothing.
Then Amelia remembered her father standing on the library ladder.
Looking for your mother's letters.
Thomas hid things behind ordinary memories.
She looked around the bedroom.
A photograph sat beside the bed.
Amelia at age twelve, wearing an oversized red baseball cap while holding a trophy.
She picked up the frame.
Something rattled.
Behind the photograph was a tiny brass key.
Nathaniel looked at her.
"Your father really liked keys."
"Apparently."
The key opened a locked drawer built beneath the bedside table.
Inside were prescription bottles.
Several had Cole's name.
One had no label.
Nathaniel immediately called Martin.
"Don't touch them."
Amelia looked deeper.
No notebook.
Then she noticed red beneath the drawer.
A leather corner.
The notebook had been taped underneath.
She removed it carefully.
The first pages contained ordinary notes.
Blood pressure.
Meals.
Calls.
Then the entries changed.
March 7.
Cole increased medication. Makes me dizzy.
March 9.
Cassandra says Amelia called and I refused her. Lie.
March 11.
Asked for phone. Cassandra said it was lost.
March 14.
Cole says memory problems worsening. I remember perfectly.
March 16.
Found transfer paperwork in Julian's folder.
March 17.
Told Elena to contact Amelia if needed.
March 18.
Nathaniel was right. Payments from maritime account 4412.
March 19.
If they learn I know, they will accelerate.
Amelia stopped.
Nathaniel looked over her shoulder.
The final entry had been written shakily.
March 20.
Chest pain after evening tablets.
Cole told Cassandra not to call ambulance yet.
Amelia's hands began to shake.
Her father died early March 21.
Nathaniel immediately stepped away and called law enforcement.
Cassandra appeared in the doorway.
Her eyes fell on the notebook.
For the first time, true panic crossed her face.
"Where did you find that?"
Amelia looked at her.
Cassandra realized her mistake.
Nathaniel slowly lowered his phone.
"You knew it existed."
Cassandra stepped backward.
"No."
"You just asked where she found it."
"I saw Thomas writing."
Amelia moved toward her.
"What happened on March twentieth?"
"Nothing."
"My father wrote that Cole delayed calling an ambulance."
"I wasn't responsible for his medical care."
"Then why did you take his phone?"
"I didn't."
"Elena says you did."
"Elena is lying."
Amelia's voice dropped.
"My father was dying in this room."
Cassandra looked toward the hallway.
"And you were thousands of miles away."
The words struck.
Nathaniel moved, but Amelia lifted a hand.
She stared at Cassandra.
"Yes."
Cassandra blinked.
"I was."
Amelia stepped closer.
"And I will live with that."
Another step.
"But you were here."
May you like
Cassandra stopped breathing.
"So you're going to live with what you did."
