Chapter 6
A nurse shoved me backward.
“Sir, get out!”
“That’s my mother!”
“We need room!”
Doctors rushed past me.
Sarah grabbed my shoulders as I tried to push forward.
“Daniel!”
“He was in there!”
“I know.”
“He got to her again!”
Hospital security filled the hallway.
Someone called a code.
Melissa stood against the wall, crying.
For five minutes, I could hear nothing but alarms and shouted medical instructions.
Then everything became strangely quiet.
A doctor stepped out.
I looked at his face before he spoke.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
My knees almost gave out.
Sarah caught me.
The doctor continued.
“She’s breathing again.”
“What happened?”
“We’re still determining that.”
“Her tube was disconnected.”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Dad was inside.”
Security approached us.
A supervisor held a visitor badge.
“Your father entered using a temporary credential.”
“How?”
“He told staff his wife had requested him.”
“She didn’t.”
“We know that now.”
“Where is he?”
“We’re searching the building.”
I looked around.
“He couldn’t have disappeared.”
The supervisor said nothing.
That silence told me they didn’t know.
I called Richard.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Melissa’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
“Dad.”
“Answer it.”
She hesitated.
“Melissa.”
She answered and put it on speaker.
“Dad?”
Richard’s voice was calm.
“Are you with Daniel?”
Melissa looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Did he open the drive?”
I stepped toward the phone.
“You nearly killed Mom.”
Silence.
Then Dad sighed.
“Daniel.”
“Where are you?”
“I didn’t hurt her.”
“You were in her room.”
“She asked to see me.”
“She could barely speak.”
“She spoke to me.”
“What did she say?”
“That she was sorry.”
My anger exploded.
“For what?”
“For destroying our family.”
Melissa shook her head.
“Dad, stop.”
Richard ignored her.
“Daniel, Sarah is using your mother.”
Sarah laughed in disbelief.
“For what?”
“To get you away from us.”
I grabbed the phone.
“You’re done.”
“Am I?”
“I have Mom’s recordings.”
“I assumed you did.”
“I have the bank records.”
“They prove bad business decisions. Nothing more.”
“I have proof you collected her sedatives.”
“For my wife.”
“She stopped taking them.”
“That is what Sarah says.”
“That is what Mom says.”
Richard became quiet.
Then his voice softened.
“Son, your mother has not been well.”
“Stop.”
“She has been paranoid.”
“Stop.”
“She has been talking about things that happened decades ago as if they happened yesterday.”
I thought about the video.
“You mean my biological father?”
Richard went silent.
Melissa closed her eyes.
He knew.
“You knew I would find out.”
“I knew Evelyn would eventually punish me with it.”
“Punish you?”
My voice shook.
“You lied to me my entire life.”
“I raised you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I was there when you were born.”
“Who is my biological father?”
Silence.
“Tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom does.”
“Then ask her.”
“You disconnected her breathing tube!”
“I adjusted something because she was trying to speak.”
Sarah stared at the phone.
“You expect anyone to believe that?”
Richard’s voice hardened.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“No,” Sarah said.
“You only talk about me.”
He said nothing.
She continued.
“You spent years turning Evelyn against me because you knew she and I were dangerous if we ever compared what you had told us.”
“You have always thought highly of yourself.”
“No. I finally understand how low you think of everyone else.”
Richard laughed once.
Then he spoke to me.
“You want to know why I’m calling?”
“What?”
“Because Melissa needs to tell you about the other loan.”
My sister froze.
“What other loan?”
Melissa whispered.
“Dad.”
Richard continued.
“The one she took out three months ago.”
I stared at her.
“You said the house was the only one.”
She began shaking her head.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What wasn’t?”
Richard said it for her.
“She used your name.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Melissa covered her mouth.
I stared at my sister.
“You used my name?”
“I can explain.”
“How?”
“Jason was in trouble.”
“You already said that.”
“It was worse than I told you.”
Richard’s voice remained calm.
“Daniel, your sister opened a credit line using financial documents from your consulting company.”
I could barely breathe.
“How much?”
Melissa whispered.
“Two hundred thousand.”
My knees felt weak.
“You stole my identity?”
“I was going to fix it.”
“When?”
“I was paying it back.”
“With Mom’s money?”
She started crying.
“I didn’t know what else to do!”
Sarah stepped between us.
“Daniel.”
I moved away.
Everything was collapsing at once.
Dad was still on speaker.
“You see what your mother was going to do?”
“What?”
“She was going to report Melissa.”
“She should have!”
My sister sobbed.
Richard’s voice sharpened.
“You say that because you don’t understand what prison would do to her.”
“And drugging Mom was better?”
“I did not drug Evelyn.”
“Then who did?”
Silence.
“Dad.”
He exhaled.
“Ask the hospital who controlled her medication.”
Sarah looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
The call ended.
Melissa called back.
No answer.
I ran to the nurses’ station.
“Who has access to my mother’s medication?”
The nurse stared at me.
“Her care team.”
“Could my father get it?”
“No.”
“Could my sister?”
“No.”
“Who dispensed medication before her toxicology showed sedatives?”
The nurse became cautious.
“You’ll need to speak with the attending physician.”
“Get him.”
Sarah pulled me aside.
“Richard wanted us to ask that.”
“I know.”
“He’s leading us somewhere.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
The doctor returned fifteen minutes later.
We explained.
He checked the chart.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
“There is an entry I don’t recognize.”
My heartbeat jumped.
“What entry?”
“A medication authorization from yesterday evening.”
“Who signed it?”
He stared at the screen.
“Dr. Nathan Cole.”
I frowned.
“There is no Nathan Cole in our family.”
The doctor shook his head.
“There’s no physician here by that name.”
Sarah leaned closer.
“So someone entered a false order?”
“It appears that way.”
“Can you trace it?”
“IT can.”
Security immediately became involved.
Within an hour, they discovered the authorization had been entered from a workstation on another floor.
The security camera showed someone sitting at it.
A woman.
Dark coat.
Hair pulled back.
I didn’t recognize her.
Melissa did.
She stopped breathing.
“No.”
I turned.
“You know her?”
Melissa stared at the screen.
“That’s Laura.”
My half-sister.
The woman I had never met.
The woman Dad had supposedly used as a cover for stolen money.
The woman Mom had said refused him for years.
“What is she doing here?” I asked.
Melissa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Sarah looked at the timestamp.
“Twenty minutes later, Evelyn received medication.”
My stomach twisted.
“So Laura drugged her?”
“Not necessarily.”
Security tracked the person on camera.
She had entered the hospital using a visitor badge under another name.
Then vanished.
Melissa sat down hard.
“Dad said Laura hated him.”
“Maybe she hates Mom more,” I said.
Sarah shook her head.
“Evelyn said Laura contacted her six months ago.”
“For what?”
“We didn’t finish the files.”
We returned to the waiting room.
I opened the Laura folder.
There were emails Mom had saved as documents.
The first message was short.
Mrs. Cole,
You don’t know me, but I think we both spent too many years believing Richard.
I am not asking for money.
I am asking you to tell me the truth.
Laura.
The next messages showed Mom and Laura slowly communicating.
Laura had not threatened her.
She had warned her.
One message stood out.
Richard is moving money through an account using my name.
I did not authorize it.
I have spent years refusing his money because every dollar comes with a string.
Please check your accounts.
Another.
He has been telling people I am unstable.
He did the same thing to my mother.
My heart pounded.
Sarah opened the final message.
Sent three days before Mom collapsed.
Evelyn,
I think Richard knows we spoke.
Do not eat or drink anything he gives you.
I am coming to Boston Friday.
We need to talk in person.
Laura.
Friday.
Today was Friday.
I looked at the security image.
“That could be her.”
Sarah nodded.
“But why enter a medication order?”
Melissa stared at the screen.
“Maybe she was trying to help.”
“By pretending to be a doctor?”
“No.”
She pointed closer.
“Look at the coat.”
“What?”
“I’ve seen it before.”
“Where?”
Melissa’s eyes filled with fear.
“Dad’s office.”
I frowned.
“Laura’s coat?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Catherine’s.”
“Laura’s mother?”
“Yes.”
“How would you know that?”
“Because Dad keeps a box of her things.”
Sarah and I stared at her.
Melissa continued.
“Photos. Letters. Jewelry. That coat.”
My skin prickled.
“So whoever is on that footage could have taken it from Dad.”
Sarah suddenly stood.
“Or Dad wanted us to think it was Laura.”
I called security back.
“Can you zoom in on the face?”
They enhanced what they could.
The image was grainy.
But when the woman turned sideways, Melissa shook her head.
“That’s not Laura.”
“You said it was.”
“I saw the coat.”
“Then who is it?”
She stared harder.
Her face lost all color.
“I know her.”
“Who?”
Melissa looked at me.
“Jason’s sister.”
My sister’s estranged husband’s sister.
“Why would she be here?”
Melissa’s voice broke.
“Because she works for Dad.”
Sarah looked at her.
“Doing what?”
Melissa whispered the answer.
“Whatever he pays her to do.”
Before I could respond, a nurse hurried into the room.
“Daniel, your mother is awake again.”
I ran.
Mom looked exhausted.
But conscious.
I took her hand.
“Mom, do you know where Dad is?”
She nodded faintly.
“Did he disconnect your tube?”
A tear slid from the corner of her eye.
“Yes.”
My anger rose.
“Did Laura drug you?”
Her brow tightened.
“No.”
“Did she come here?”
Mom nodded.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why?”
Mom tried to speak.
I leaned close.
“What?”
“She warned me.”
“About Dad?”
Mom shook her head.
“About Melissa.”
My sister stood in the doorway.
She heard.
Her face crumpled.
“Mom?”
Evelyn looked at her.
Then whispered three words.
“Jason is alive.”
Melissa stopped breathing.
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Mom’s fingers tightened around mine.
Everyone in our family believed Jason had disappeared after leaving Melissa.
My mother looked terrified.
“He never left her.”
Melissa backed into the hallway.
I turned.
May you like
“Melissa?”
She ran.
