Chapter 3 - THE DOCTOR WHO NEVER MET ELEANOR
Julian Cole looked down at the phone in his hand as though he had forgotten it was there.
The screen still glowed.
Denise crossed the library before he could lock it.
"Place the phone on the desk."
Julian's mouth tightened.
"You have no authority to seize my personal property."
"Then leave it in your hand and do not touch the screen again."
Thomas moved to the other side of the doorway.
Julian understood the message.
The mansion's gates were closed.
The security team answered to Nathan, not to Whitmore Development's chief financial officer.
"I called a doctor because an elderly woman collapsed," Julian said.
"That is what responsible people do."
"You called a doctor who supposedly prescribed her medication," Denise replied.
"How did you know his name?"
Julian glanced toward Claire.
She remained silent.
"Claire mentioned him."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"Before or after Mrs. Whitmore collapsed?"
He hesitated.
"Before."
Maria remembered every word spoken at the table.
Claire had not said Dr. Landry's name downstairs.
She had named him only in the dressing room.
Julian had been in the library with the other guests.
"That is not true," Maria said.
Julian turned on her.
"No one asked you."
"I was upstairs when she said his name."
Maria's fear was still there, but it had changed shape.
It no longer bent her head.
"You were not."
Julian's nostrils flared.
"Perhaps she mentioned him at another dinner."
"She did not," Mrs. Donnelly said from the hall.
Julian laughed.
"Apparently every servant in the house has become a detective."
Denise's gaze hardened.
"Mrs. Donnelly has a name."
"I am aware of that."
"Then use it."
The front intercom buzzed again.
Dr. Landry sounded impatient.
"Is someone going to open this gate?"
Denise spoke into the panel.
"Doctor, please remain in your car."
"I was told my patient was in danger."
"Your patient is at St. Matthew's Hospital."
A pause followed.
"Then why was I called here?"
Denise looked at Julian.
"That is what we are trying to determine."
She instructed Thomas to meet the doctor at the gate and bring him to the detached security office.
Then she called Nathan.
He answered immediately.
Denise summarized the discovery and asked whether local police had been contacted.
Nathan's voice came through the phone, low and controlled.
"They are sending a detective to the hospital and another to the house."
"Julian called Landry."
"Keep Julian there."
"I am standing right here," Julian said.
Nathan heard him.
"Good."
The line went quiet for a second.
"Julian, do not delete anything from your phone."
"You cannot order me to surrender private company communications."
"I am not ordering you to surrender them."
Nathan's voice became colder.
"I am warning you that deleting evidence after a possible poisoning would be a very stupid decision."
Julian ended the call by reaching over and pressing the speaker icon off.
Denise stared at him.
"Do that again and I will have you removed from the room."
Julian stepped back.
Claire finally spoke.
"This is getting out of control."
Lily peeked from behind Maria's skirt.
"It was already out of control."
No one laughed.
Claire's gaze found the child, and for one moment her face looked almost fascinated.
"You enjoy attention, don't you?"
Maria moved between them.
"Do not speak to my daughter."
Claire raised her eyebrows.
"You forget who pays you."
"Not anymore."
Maria's voice shook, but she did not lower it.
"No amount of money gives you the right to scare her."
Claire took one slow step forward.
"You have no idea what I have the right to do."
The words were quiet.
They were also a mistake.
Angela's body camera recorded them.
Denise noticed.
So did Claire.
Her smile returned too late.
"That sounded harsher than I intended."
"Most truths do," Mrs. Donnelly said.
Twenty minutes later, Detective Ava Monroe arrived with a uniformed officer.
She was tall, calm, and unimpressed by marble floors or famous last names.
She listened to Denise's summary without interrupting.
Then she separated everyone.
Claire was taken to the morning room.
Julian was placed in Nathan's study.
Maria and Lily remained in the library with a victim advocate.
Mrs. Donnelly sat in the music room.
The dinner guests were interviewed in pairs and allowed to leave only after their names and contact information were documented.
Detective Monroe began with the ring.
She photographed the evidence bag and asked Angela to describe exactly how it had been found.
Then she turned to Lily.
"I am not going to ask you scary questions."
Lily held Maria's hand.
"Okay."
"I only want you to tell me what you remember."
"I remember Mrs. Claire touching my jacket."
"Did you see the ring?"
"No."
"Did your mother ever ask you to take jewelry?"
Lily's face twisted in confusion.
"Mommy says we don't even take hotel soap unless it is ours."
The victim advocate looked down to hide a smile.
Detective Monroe did not smile, but her eyes softened.
"Did anyone else touch your jacket today?"
"Grandma Eleanor held my hand."
"Did she touch the pocket?"
"No."
"Anyone else?"
Lily thought carefully.
"Mr. Julian bumped me by the kitchen door."
Maria looked at her.
"When?"
"Before Mrs. Claire brushed me."
"Did he touch the jacket?" the detective asked.
"His hand hit my shoulder."
Lily frowned.
"He said I should not be upstairs."
Detective Monroe wrote it down.
"Anything else?"
Lily looked toward the rain-streaked window.
"Mrs. Claire was talking to him in the little room with the green curtains."
Maria knew she meant the conservatory.
"What did they say?"
"I only heard one thing."
"Tell me exactly."
Lily squeezed her mother's fingers.
"Mrs. Claire said, 'Tonight she finally signs, or we change the plan.'"
Maria's pulse quickened.
Detective Monroe stopped writing.
"Who was she talking about?"
"I don't know."
"Did Mr. Julian answer?"
"He said, 'Nathan will never forgive you if the old woman gets hurt.'"
The room became silent.
"What did Mrs. Claire say?"
Lily lowered her voice.
"She said, 'He won't know until it is too late.'"
Detective Monroe left the library and closed the door behind her.
Maria sat very still.
She wanted to take Lily home.
She wanted to lock every door and never return to the mansion.
But Daniel's face came to her mind.
He had believed that leaving a dangerous truth hidden only made it more dangerous.
He had worked as an accountant before his death.
He had been careful, stubborn, and unable to ignore numbers that did not make sense.
For six months before the crash, he had come home late from temporary contract work and refused to say which client had hired him.
The night before he died, he had told Maria that he had found something ugly inside a beautiful company.
She had assumed he meant fraud.
Now she wondered whether he had meant Whitmore Development.
The library door opened.
Detective Monroe returned.
"Mrs. Parker, do you recognize the name Malcolm Landry?"
"No."
"Has Mrs. Whitmore ever mentioned him?"
"Never."
"Has your late husband?"
Maria felt a chill.
"Why are you asking about Daniel?"
The detective did not answer immediately.
"Dr. Landry says he has never examined Eleanor Whitmore."
Maria stared at her.
"Then why is his name on the bottles?"
"He says the prescriptions were issued through his office login while he was attending a medical conference in Vancouver."
"Someone stole his password?"
"Possibly."
Detective Monroe sat across from Maria.
"He also says the billing account used for the consultation belongs to a company called Parker Forensic Services."
Maria stopped breathing.
"That was Daniel's company."
Lily looked up at her mother.
"Daddy's?"
Maria nodded slowly.
Daniel had closed Parker Forensic Services almost a year before his death.
At least, that was what he had told her.
Detective Monroe placed a printed document on the table.
It was a payment authorization for twenty-five thousand dollars.
The signature at the bottom read Daniel Parker.
The date was six weeks ago.
Daniel had been dead for fourteen months.
"This is forged," Maria said.
"I know his signature."
"We think it was used to make the prescriptions look like part of a private cognitive assessment."
Maria stared at the dead man's name.
"Why would anyone use Daniel's company?"
"That is what I need to ask you."
Maria's mind moved backward through memories she had tried not to touch.
Daniel hiding papers beneath the spare tire.
Daniel changing the password on his laptop.
Daniel telling her that if anything happened, she should find the blue key.
She had thought he was being dramatic.
After the crash, she found no blue key.
She found only unpaid bills, a damaged phone, and a police report saying he had fallen asleep at the wheel.
"Mrs. Parker?"
Maria looked at the detective.
"My husband was investigating a client before he died."
"Which client?"
"He never told me."
"Did he leave records?"
"The police returned one box from his car."
"What was inside?"
"Receipts."
Maria paused.
"A notebook."
"Do you still have it?"
"Yes."
Detective Monroe leaned forward.
"Where?"
"In my apartment."
A crash sounded from the morning room.
Someone shouted.
The detective stood and ran toward the hall.
Maria followed despite the victim advocate's warning.
They found the uniformed officer holding the morning room door open.
The window curtains whipped in the storm.
Rain blew across the carpet.
Claire was gone.
A narrow side door behind the curtains stood open to the terrace.
Thomas swore under his breath.
"The grounds are locked."
Detective Monroe looked at the wet footprints leading away from the house.
"Then she is still somewhere on the property."
Maria turned toward the library.
Lily was no longer beside the sofa.
Her empty shoes sat near the fireplace.
On the cushion lay the peppermint from her jacket pocket.
The clear wrapper had been opened.
A handwritten note was tucked inside.
Maria unfolded it with shaking hands.
May you like
It contained only seven words.
BRING DANIEL'S NOTEBOOK TO THE GREENHOUSE ALONE.
