Chapter 14
Elena agreed to meet us at a police station in San Diego.
I flew there with Morales.
I told Sarah I would be back that night.
Emma hugged me before I left.
“Planes come back, right?”
The question stopped me.
“Mine does.”
“Promise?”
“I promise I am coming back.”
She nodded.
Then she made me take the stuffed rabbit.
“For luck.”
I carried that rabbit through airport security like it was made of gold.
Elena Cruz was sixty-two.
Gray hair.
Sharp eyes.
She recognized me immediately.
“You look like Thomas.”
I sat across from her.
“You knew my father well?”
“I cared for him through two hospital stays.”
Her hands tightened around a paper cup.
“He was a difficult patient.”
I almost smiled.
“That sounds like him.”
“He hated feeling weak.”
Then her smile disappeared.
“He was frightened before the surgery.”
“Of dying?”
“No.”
She looked at Morales.
“Of his family.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“He told me he had discovered financial crimes.”
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
“And my mother?”
Elena hesitated.
“Thomas believed your mother had protected Richard.”
“That’s true.”
“He also said there was a child.”
I stopped breathing.
“Emma.”
“I never knew her name.”
Elena looked at me.
“He wanted to tell you.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“He tried.”
“What happened?”
“Someone kept intercepting his calls.”
I stared at her.
“Who?”
“He believed your mother.”
Of course.
“He asked me to help him leave the house after surgery.”
“Leave?”
“He planned to recover somewhere Judith could not control who visited.”
“Where?”
“He never told me.”
The Nevada house, probably.
“What happened the morning of surgery?”
Elena looked down.
“This is why I left.”
Morales leaned forward.
“Take your time.”
She inhaled.
“Thomas had a medication list. Blood thinner had been stopped several days before surgery, as required.”
I knew almost nothing about the medical details.
She continued.
“That morning, I arrived early.”
“Who was there?”
“Judith. Richard. And a younger doctor.”
“Mark Lawson?”
Morales showed a photograph.
Elena nodded.
“That’s him.”
My stomach tightened.
“What was he doing?”
“Talking to Judith.”
“About?”
“I didn’t hear everything.”
Her voice became quieter.
“But I heard her say, ‘He cannot wake up and destroy this family.’”
My hands went cold.
Morales asked, “Exact words?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“I told myself I must have misunderstood.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“I have regretted that every day.”
“What happened next?”
“Thomas asked me to bring his medication bag.”
She looked directly at me.
“The seals had been broken.”
“What does that mean?”
“I prepared his pills myself. Someone had opened two packets.”
Morales asked, “Which medications?”
“One was his blood thinner.”
My heart pounded.
“Was he supposed to take it?”
“Not that morning.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could it affect surgery?”
“It could increase bleeding risk.”
I gripped the table.
“What did you do?”
“I told Mark.”
My stomach dropped.
“What did he say?”
“He said he would handle it.”
“And?”
“He took the bag.”
“Did you ever see it again?”
“No.”
I stared at Morales.
He remained calm.
“Was this documented?”
Elena shook her head.
“After Thomas died, I asked Mark about it.”
“What did he say?”
“That I was confused.”
Of course.
Confused.
Unstable.
Mistaken.
Same method.
“What did my mother say?”
“She told me grief was affecting me.”
I laughed bitterly.
Elena looked at me.
“Then Richard came to my house.”
I stopped.
“When?”
“Two days after the funeral.”
“What did he want?”
“He offered me fifty thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“To sign a statement saying I had mixed up the medication packets.”
My anger became ice.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“He told me if I talked, I would lose my nursing license.”
“Why did you disappear?”
“I was scared.”
She looked ashamed.
Sarah.
Elena.
Everyone my family frightened ended up apologizing for being frightened.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
She nodded gratefully.
“I moved in with my daughter.”
“Did you keep anything?”
Elena looked toward Morales.
“Yes.”
From her bag, she removed a small notebook.
“I wrote everything down the night Thomas died.”
Morales handled it carefully.
The entries included times.
Names.
Medication details.
A description of Mark taking the bag.
And one final line.
11:42 A.M. Judith said, “This ends today.”
My stomach turned.
The surgery began shortly afterward.
My father developed uncontrollable bleeding.
Complications followed.
He died two days later.
Morales warned me again.
“This does not prove homicide.”
“I know.”
But it proved enough to reopen questions.
The medical examiner ordered a review.
Old hospital samples still existed.
Tests were requested.
Mark remained silent.
Richard blamed Judith.
Judith’s attorney released a statement calling Elena unreliable.
Then my mother called me.
I answered this time.
“Did you kill Dad?”
She gasped.
“No.”
“Did you give him medication before surgery?”
“No!”
“Did Richard?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Mark?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I left the room.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas told me he hated me.”
Her voice broke.
I stopped.
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
I could hear her sobbing.
“He said he loved me but hated what I had become.”
That sounded like my father.
Painfully honest.
“What did you do?”
“I walked outside.”
“For how long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Who stayed with him?”
“Richard and Mark.”
My pulse quickened.
“When you returned?”
“Thomas was already being taken to surgery.”
“Did you know his medication bag had been opened?”
“No.”
“Did Elena tell you?”
“After.”
“And you told her grief confused her.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“Because Richard told me she was trying to protect herself.”
“You believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
There it was.
A lifetime of destruction inside three words.
I wanted to.
“Mom, did you hear Richard threaten Dad?”
She started crying harder.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“What did he say?”
“That Thomas would not live long enough to remove him from the company.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I thought he was angry.”
“Caroline heard him too.”
“I know.”
“You all heard him.”
Nobody acted.
Love without courage is only a feeling.
Dad’s words again.
I ended the call.
When I landed back home, Emma was waiting at Megan’s front window.
The second she saw me, she ran outside.
“You came back!”
I dropped my bag.
She threw herself into my arms.
“I told you I would.”
She held my face between her little hands.
“You really came back.”
My heart shattered and healed at the same time.
“I’m going to keep doing that.”
Then Sarah appeared in the doorway.
Her expression was serious.
“What happened?”
I knew she was not asking about California.
“What?”
She held up her phone.
“Caroline’s mother called me.”
Margaret.
“What did she want?”
Sarah’s jaw tightened.
“She says Caroline is ready to give police everything.”
“That’s good.”
“No.”
May you like
Sarah shook her head.
“She said Caroline will only cooperate if you agree not to divorce her.”
