Chapter 6 - The First Word
Jocelyn woke in intensive care twelve hours later.
Her throat burned from the breathing tube. Her abdomen felt heavy and distant. Machines beeped beside her.
Elena was there.
So was Naomi.
Gordon stood behind the glass doors.
Rita stood beside him.
Jocelyn looked at Elena.
“Alive?”
Elena smiled through tears.
“Very.”
Jocelyn looked toward the door.
Gordon immediately straightened.
Rita waved as though nothing had happened.
Jocelyn’s expression did not change.
“No.”
The nurse understood.
She closed the privacy curtain.
Gordon pushed against the glass door.
“I’m her husband.”
The nurse stepped outside.
“Dr. Hale declined visitors.”
“She’s medicated.”
“She is alert and capable of making decisions.”
Rita raised her voice.
“We are her family.”
Naomi joined them in the hallway.
“Then you should have acted like it.”
Gordon ignored her.
“Tell Jocelyn I need to explain.”
“She nearly died.”
“I didn’t know.”
Naomi’s face remained calm.
“You were told by Jocelyn. You were told by the clinic. You were told by the hospital. At what point would you have considered knowing?”
Gordon opened his mouth.
No answer came.
Inside the room, Jocelyn asked Elena to retrieve her phone.
There were forty-three missed calls.
Most were from Gordon.
Eleven were from Rita.
The messages changed over time.
Call me.
Stop this nonsense.
The store is accusing us of fraud.
You embarrassed my mother.
The bank froze everything.
Where are you?
The hospital says you had surgery.
Please answer.
I’m sorry.
I didn’t understand.
We need to talk before lawyers make this worse.
Jocelyn read the final message twice.
Not before you die.
Before lawyers make this worse.
She handed the phone to Naomi.
“Begin the separation.”
Naomi nodded.
“Divorce?”
Jocelyn stared at the ceiling.
She remembered Gordon at twenty-seven, waiting outside her residency program with cheap coffee and a hand-drawn sign that said Future Heart Legend.
She remembered him sleeping in hospital waiting rooms during her first year of training.
She remembered the tenderness he once possessed.
Or perhaps the tenderness he had once performed.
“I need the truth first,” she said.
“About the money?”
“About everything.”
Naomi opened her tablet.
“The forensic accountant found a second company.”
Jocelyn turned her head.
“What company?”
“R.G. Heritage Holdings.”
“What does that stand for?”
“We believe Rita and Gordon.”
Jocelyn felt cold despite the blankets.
“How much?”
“Unknown. But several of your transfers were routed there before being moved again.”
“Moved where?”
Naomi hesitated.
“Into a property purchase.”
“What property?”
“A house.”
Jocelyn swallowed.
“Whose house?”
May you like
Naomi met her eyes.
“We don’t know yet.”
