Chapter 7 - The Night Dad Collapsed
I remembered the night Dad collapsed with painful clarity.
It had been raining then too.
He called me at 9:17 p.m.
His voice had sounded weak.
"Elena, something isn't right."
I drove across town in fourteen minutes.
I found him sitting on the kitchen floor beside an overturned glass of water.
His blood pressure was dangerously low.
He was confused.
He kept asking why the clock had stopped even though it was still ticking above the stove.
The hospital treated him for dehydration, medication complications, and a heart rhythm problem.
No one suggested anything criminal.
Neither did I.
Now I stood inside Raymond's warehouse staring at an agreement that tied money to Dad's "medical incapacity."
My memories rearranged themselves into something darker.
Julian had visited Dad earlier that same evening.
I knew because Dad mentioned it at the hospital.
He had been irritated.
"Your brother came by asking about the river lot again."
At the time, I barely listened.
I was too worried about Dad's heart monitor.
Now every word mattered.
I told the detective.
His name was Daniel Ortiz.
He asked me not to draw conclusions.
"This document is concerning, but it does not prove anyone harmed your father."
I understood.
I also understood why he had chosen the word concerning.
Serena sat nearby with both hands wrapped around a paper cup of water.
"Julian came home late that night."
Detective Ortiz turned toward her.
"How late?"
"After midnight."
"What did he say?"
"That David had gotten sick."
"Did he say how he knew?"
Serena's eyes widened.
She had not thought about that before.
"No."
"Did you know Elena had taken David to the hospital?"
"Not until the next morning."
The detective wrote something down.
I felt the hairs rise on my arms.
Julian had known Dad was sick before Serena did.
That alone proved nothing.
He could have seen Dad feeling ill when he left.
He could have called later.
There were innocent explanations.
But innocence was becoming harder to find around my brother.
Claire asked whether Dad's medical records included toxicology testing.
I shook my head.
I did not know.
Samuel said he could obtain records through the estate.
Detective Ortiz asked us to do that without delay.
The search of the warehouse continued.
Police found thirty-one thousand dollars in the cash box.
They found blank notarization forms.
They found copies of Dad's driver's license and Social Security card.
They found Serena's tax returns.
They found a photocopy of my own signature from a holiday card I had sent Dad two years earlier.
That frightened me in a different way.
"Why would he have this?"
Marcus studied the page.
"Possibly to practice."
I stared at my own name.
The idea of Julian sitting at a desk tracing my signature made my skin crawl.
Then police found a USB drive taped beneath Raymond's desk.
It was not Dad's drive from the safe.
This one belonged to the warehouse.
The detective bagged it for forensic analysis.
We were told results could take time.
I hated that.
Every minute Julian remained missing felt like a door left open in a storm.
By early evening, police had still not located him or Raymond.
Samuel drove me back to Dad's house.
Serena came with us because she refused to return to her own home until she knew whether Julian was there.
I gave her Dad's guest room.
The irony was brutal.
A few hours earlier, Serena had stood beside Julian while he accused me of stealing the inheritance.
Now she was sleeping under Dad's roof because she was afraid of her husband.
I went upstairs to Dad's bedroom.
The bed was still made exactly as I had left it after collecting his funeral suit.
His reading glasses rested on the nightstand.
A half-finished book lay facedown beside them.
I sat on the edge of the mattress.
The grief I had postponed all day finally caught me.
I cried silently at first.
Then I couldn't.
I pressed both hands over my face and sobbed into the empty room.
I was angry at Julian.
Angry at Raymond.
Angry at Dad for not telling me everything while he was alive.
And then I hated myself for being angry at a dead man.
A soft knock came at the door.
Serena stood in the hallway.
Her mascara had been washed away.
Without the diamonds and perfect makeup, she looked younger and more frightened.
"I'm sorry."
I wiped my face.
"For what?"
"For believing him."
I said nothing.
She stepped inside.
"Julian told me you were trying to take control of David's estate."
"He told everyone that."
"I wanted to believe him."
Her voice cracked.
"Because the alternative was admitting my husband was becoming someone I didn't recognize."
I understood that better than she knew.
"Sit."
She sat in Dad's armchair.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then she looked at the nightstand.
"What's that?"
Beneath Dad's reading glasses was a small folded piece of paper.
I had not noticed it before.
My name was written on the outside.
ELENA.
My hands went cold.
I opened it.
There were only three lines.
"If something happens to me before Samuel can finish the audit, do not trust the first explanation."
"Check the blue medication bottle."
"Then listen to the recording dated June 8."
Serena and I stared at each other.
Dad had written the note before he died.
The blue medication bottle had disappeared the week he collapsed.
And I had no idea what recording he meant.
May you like
Then I remembered the flash drive in the safe.
