Chapter 16 - THE WITNESS IN THE NEXT ROOM
News of the investigation began spreading through town, although officials released few details.
Some people supported me.
Others told me I should settle quietly to protect the family name.
I wondered which family name they meant.
The one Dad built through fifty years of honest work, or the one Ethan used to borrow against other people's trust?
Marjorie appeared on a local television program and described herself as a grieving widow of circumstance, despite being neither George's wife nor his heir.
She suggested I had been manipulated by an ambitious attorney.
I did not respond publicly.
Priya said an emotional interview would accomplish little while evidence was still being tested.
Instead, I helped Arthur and Naomi reopen one service bay after repairs.
The first customer was a retired schoolteacher whose car Dad had fixed every winter.
She placed a jar of homemade jam on the counter and said she missed him.
For a few minutes, grief felt ordinary again.
Then Mercer called.
"We've located the person who may have heard the argument in your father's office," he said.
It was a delivery driver who had been waiting in the neighboring loading bay that night.
He remembered three voices and a crash.
He also remembered hearing George shout, "Get your hands off my medicine."
The driver had not come forward because he did not connect the incident to the death until the news reports.
His recollection required independent corroboration, but it matched the time recorded by the neighboring security camera.
Investigators recovered a partial audio file from a dash camera parked nearby.
Most of the sound was indistinct.
One sentence was clear enough to identify.
"If he tells Lydia, the whole thing falls apart."
The speaker appeared to be Ethan.
Prosecutors now had financial records, witnesses, disputed medical evidence, and a pattern of attempts to control my decisions.
But the question of Dad's death remained unresolved.
Then Vivian's lawyer requested a meeting.
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She had something to disclose about the last prescription change.
