Chapter 7 - The False Panel
Mom had not escaped alone.
A hospital maintenance worker found an emergency stairwell door forced open.
Security footage showed a man wearing a paramedic jacket entering the second floor during the blackout.
His face was hidden.
His height and posture matched Elias.
Mom left through the service corridor with him.
Before disappearing, she entered Daniel’s treatment room while I was speaking to Dr. Shah in the hallway.
She did not take the tablet.
She took the small evidence envelope containing the toxicology report police had recovered from the false panel.
Detective Torres was furious.
But Daniel remained calm.
“Wrong report,” his tablet said.
Everyone turned toward him.
“What do you mean?” Torres asked.
Daniel typed.
“Dad said false panel.”
“Yes.”
“Two panels.”
Torres stared at him.
“The officers found one.”
Daniel shook his head.
He pulled up a photograph of the hidden drawer.
A line in the wood grain formed a tiny arrow.
I had assumed it was a scratch.
Daniel enlarged the image.
The arrow pointed toward a brass screw.
Back at the house, officers removed the drawer completely.
Behind the first panel had been the report Mom stole.
Behind the second was a sealed plastic package.
Inside was another toxicology report.
There was also a flash drive and a handwritten letter from Dad.
The report showed high levels of digoxin in his blood.
Dad had never been prescribed digoxin.
In excessive amounts, the medication could cause fatal heart rhythm problems that resembled natural cardiac failure.
The flash drive contained photographs of prescription bottles Elias had brought into our home.
It also contained copies of messages between Mom and an unknown number.
We need the death certified before the new trust amendment is filed.
He is asking questions.
Daniel saw the bottle.
Handle him gently until Claire leaves.
Detective Torres traced the number.
It belonged to a prepaid phone last activated near a storage facility outside the city.
The handwritten letter was addressed to Daniel and me.
Claire, if you are reading this, I failed to protect your brother from someone I once trusted.
Do not make the same mistake I made.
Do not assume love prevents greed.
The next paragraph revealed why Dad had become suspicious.
Three months before his death, Mom tried to persuade him to change Daniel’s trust.
She wanted full control.
Dad refused.
Two days later, his medication began making him dizzy.
Elias appeared in our lives as a private nurse recommended by Mom.
Dad secretly hired an investigator.
The investigator’s name was Samuel Reed.
Detective Torres searched police records.
Samuel Reed had disappeared sixteen months earlier.
His car had been found near a river.
No body was recovered.
At the bottom of Dad’s letter was a final warning.
If Samuel is missing, Margaret did not act alone.
Someone inside the legal system helped her.
Then a message arrived on my phone.
It came from Daniel’s number, though his tablet was still in his hands.
The message contained a photograph of Mom.
She was standing inside a dark warehouse.
Beside her was a man tied to a chair.
The caption read:
May you like
Samuel Reed is still alive.
Bring Daniel’s tablet.
