Chapter 15 - THE GLASS OF WATER
Mom denied it immediately.
“I gave him water.”
“With medication in it?”
“No.”
“Ray says you did.”
“Raymond is trying to save himself.”
“Did you give Dad anything after Lawson left?”
She looked away.
That was enough.
“What?”
“Something for pain.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
My voice rose.
“You don’t know?”
“Peter left a dose prepared.”
“Where?”
“In a small cup.”
“Did Dad ask for it?”
“He was struggling.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“No.”
I stepped away.
Mom stood.
“Claire, he was suffering.”
“Did he say no?”
“He could barely talk.”
“Did he say no?”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“You gave him medication after he refused it.”
“I thought he was confused.”
“He recorded a message twenty minutes before he died.”
She stopped breathing.
“He was not confused.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t want to know.”
That was the truth.
Mom had spent months deciding Dad’s resistance was confusion whenever it inconvenienced her.
Every no became illness.
Every disagreement became incapacity.
Every accusation became paranoia.
“Was it in the blue bottle?”
“No.”
“Then where did it come from?”
“Peter prepared it.”
“Lawson says he didn’t.”
“He’s lying.”
“Ray says you put something in Dad’s water.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then why would he say that?”
“Because he was there.”
We both froze.
“What?”
Mom realized what she had admitted.
“You said you didn’t know when he came back.”
“I didn’t.”
“But you saw him.”
“Later.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You just said he was there when you gave Dad the medicine.”
Mom sat down.
Her face collapsed.
For nearly a minute, she said nothing.
Then she whispered.
“Ray came upstairs.”
My blood turned cold.
“When?”
“After Peter left.”
“What did he do?”
“He said Thomas needed the full dose.”
“Did he touch the medication?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He poured something into the cup.”
I stared at her.
“And you gave it to Dad?”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
“You watched Ray add something.”
“He said Peter told him to.”
“And you believed him?”
“I was exhausted.”
“You were angry.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted Dad to sign.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted him sedated.”
She covered her mouth.
“Yes.”
There it was.
The ugliest truth.
Mom may not have intended to kill Dad.
But she participated in making him vulnerable.
She helped Raymond.
She ignored Dad’s refusal.
And she gave him the cup.
I turned away because I could not look at her.
Behind me, she whispered.
“I never wanted him dead.”
“That doesn’t undo what you did.”
“I loved him.”
“Then why didn’t his no matter?”
She had no answer.
Police arrested Mom that afternoon.
Not for murder.
For conspiracy, financial coercion, falsification, and obstruction while prosecutors determined her role in Dad’s death.
Evan watched them place her in the car.
He looked like a child.
“She’s our mother.”
“I know.”
“What do we do?”
I thought of Dad’s recording.
Don’t punish Evan for being weak.
I put my arm around him.
“We tell the truth.”
That night, Raymond called again.
This time he sounded angry.
“You got Margaret arrested.”
“She got herself arrested.”
“You think you won?”
“No.”
“But I know you’re running out of time.”
His silence told me I was right.
“The buyer walks in five days.”
“So?”
“So you need my signature.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at Collins.
May you like
She nodded.
“Then come get it.”
