Mark kept one hand on the doorknob.<\/p>\n
For the first time that afternoon, he looked frightened rather than angry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah closed her laptop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigators disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have an argument on a recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire gripped the back of a dining chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did they find?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah slipped Arthur's thermos into a clear evidence bag.<\/p>\n
The recorder had been hidden beneath a false bottom. After hearing Arthur's final audio file, she had delivered the thermos to investigators.<\/p>\n
The police laboratory found something inside it.<\/p>\n
Digoxin.<\/p>\n
Noah frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandpa didn't take that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire answered before Sarah could.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. He didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
Digoxin could be prescribed for certain heart conditions, Sarah explained, but Arthur had never been prescribed it. In sufficient quantity, especially in an elderly person, it could cause severe cardiac complications and death.<\/p>\n
Claire swayed.<\/p>\n
I caught her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died sitting in his chair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may be why nobody questioned it initially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark immediately pointed toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe David gave it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped forward.<\/p>\n
Noah caught my arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah cut Mark off.<\/p>\n
Arthur had died less than twelve hours after Mark visited the house.<\/p>\n
Mark insisted he had merely spoken with his father.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou pressured him about the will,\u201d Sarah said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked him to be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
She reopened the recording.<\/p>\n
Arthur's voice sounded from the laptop.<\/p>\n
He was calling Sarah because Mark had appeared unexpectedly.<\/p>\n
Mark accused him of giving everything to a man who despised him.<\/p>\n
Arthur reminded him that I had housed and fed him for twenty years without knowing about the fortune.<\/p>\n
Mark demanded a new will.<\/p>\n
Arthur refused.<\/p>\n
The argument intensified.<\/p>\n
Mark called him stubborn.<\/p>\n
Arthur finally told his eldest son that his greatest regret was spending years making excuses for him.<\/p>\n
Then the door slammed.<\/p>\n
Sarah pointed to the time stamp.<\/p>\n
9:07 p.m.<\/p>\n
Mark straightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I left. Thank you for proving it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou left,\u201d Sarah agreed.<\/p>\n
She moved farther along the file.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Arthur's recorder stayed on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The display advanced.<\/p>\n
10:16 p.m.<\/p>\n
A door opened.<\/p>\n
Footsteps crossed the porch.<\/p>\n
Arthur spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n
A man answered that he had come to apologize.<\/p>\n
Static distorted the voice.<\/p>\n
Arthur asked how he entered.<\/p>\n
The visitor mentioned the spare key beneath the flowerpot.<\/p>\n
Claire covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
Only family knew about it.<\/p>\n
I thought I had removed that key years earlier.<\/p>\n
Claire said Arthur asked her to replace it in case he fell when we were away.<\/p>\n
The visitor pulled up a chair.<\/p>\n
He knew about the changed will.<\/p>\n
He said Mark had told him.<\/p>\n
Sarah's expression sharpened when the visitor mentioned that Mark had obtained information through someone connected to the law office.<\/p>\n
That explained how the supposedly confidential will had leaked.<\/p>\n
Then came the request.<\/p>\n
Eighty thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Arthur refused.<\/p>\n
The man promised repayment.<\/p>\n
Arthur refused again.<\/p>\n
The visitor said people were threatening him.<\/p>\n
Arthur offered to call police.<\/p>\n
The visitor said that was impossible.<\/p>\n
Arthur offered something else: treatment.<\/p>\n
A gambling program.<\/p>\n
Across the room, Kevin went pale.<\/p>\n
I remembered the old police statement.<\/p>\n
The gambling debts.<\/p>\n
The threats.<\/p>\n
Claire turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cKevin?\u201d<\/p>\n
He backed away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could be anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah raised a finger for silence.<\/p>\n
Arthur's voice came again.<\/p>\n
This time he used the visitor's name.<\/p>\n
Kevin.<\/p>\n
Brenda began sobbing.<\/p>\n
Kevin shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
His recorded voice kept talking.<\/p>\n
He reminded Arthur that he had eventually helped twenty years earlier by signing the statement that cleared Claire.<\/p>\n
Arthur corrected him.<\/p>\n
Kevin had cooperated because Mark intended to sacrifice him if the fraud investigation succeeded.<\/p>\n
Kevin's breathing became shallow.<\/p>\n
On the recording, he begged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m your son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur's answer was weary rather than angry.<\/p>\n
He had tried to rescue Kevin from consequences for twenty years.<\/p>\n
This time Kevin needed to choose differently for himself.<\/p>\n
Silence followed.<\/p>\n
Then Arthur's voice changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you doing with my thermos?\u201d<\/p>\n
A metallic sound.<\/p>\n
Kevin claimed he intended to wash it.<\/p>\n
At ten o'clock at night.<\/p>\n
Arthur told him to put it down.<\/p>\n
Kevin became defensive.<\/p>\n
Something struck the table.<\/p>\n
Arthur gasped.<\/p>\n
Footsteps hurried away.<\/p>\n
The back door slammed.<\/p>\n
Sarah stopped playback.<\/p>\n
Every face turned toward Kevin.<\/p>\n
Claire's voice barely carried across the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you put in Dad's coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found heart medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't own heart medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah removed another document.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour wife did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin became completely still.<\/p>\n
His late wife had been prescribed digoxin during the final year of her life.<\/p>\n
The pharmacy had dispensed a supply shortly before she died.<\/p>\n
Kevin claimed he threw the unused pills away.<\/p>\n
Sarah asked how anyone could verify that.<\/p>\n
He looked toward Mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark stepped away.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell them what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sent me there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did nothing of the kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou called after you left. You told me about the will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you what happened. I didn't tell you to poison anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin shouted that he had poisoned no one.<\/p>\n
Brenda cried harder.<\/p>\n
Noah stared at his uncle with disgust.<\/p>\n
Kevin pointed at Mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew everything. He knew Dad changed the will. He knew about the ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark's eyes shifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about the ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
The question came too quickly.<\/p>\n
Kevin glanced toward the blue book on the coffee table.<\/p>\n
For one second the brothers exchanged a look.<\/p>\n
Sarah noticed.<\/p>\n
So did I.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else is in that book?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why are both of you worried about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah pulled the ledger toward herself.<\/p>\n
Arthur's expense records occupied only part of the volume.<\/p>\n
The final pages were sealed together by a strip of blue paper.<\/p>\n
Across it Arthur had written an instruction.<\/p>\n
They were to remain unopened until after the will was read.<\/p>\n
Mark took a step forward.<\/p>\n
Sarah covered the book with one hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one touches it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doorbell rang.<\/p>\n
Three knocks followed.<\/p>\n
Mark looked toward the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho's that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe detectives assigned to Arthur's case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin ran.<\/p>\n
He shoved past Brenda and disappeared down the hallway.<\/p>\n
Noah went after him.<\/p>\n
I followed.<\/p>\n
The downstairs bathroom door slammed and locked.<\/p>\n
I struck it with my fist.<\/p>\n
\u201cKevin!\u201d<\/p>\n
Glass shattered.<\/p>\n
Noah kicked beside the handle.<\/p>\n
The door flew inward.<\/p>\n
Cold air rushed through the broken bathroom window.<\/p>\n
Kevin had climbed out.<\/p>\n
By the time the detectives entered the hallway, I was halfway through the window.<\/p>\n
One officer shouted into her radio.<\/p>\n
Sirens answered somewhere nearby.<\/p>\n
We returned to the living room.<\/p>\n
Sarah screamed.<\/p>\n
The coffee table was empty.<\/p>\n
Arthur's ledger was gone.<\/p>\n
Mark remained by the front entrance.<\/p>\n
Brenda stood near the fireplace.<\/p>\n
Lily stared toward the open back door.<\/p>\n
\u201cKevin took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
UNKNOWN CALLER.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
Kevin's breathing filled the speaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid, listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur lied to all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBring the book back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI opened the sealed pages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe will you just heard is worthless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah immediately rejected that.<\/p>\n
The executed will remained valid.<\/p>\n
Kevin said another document was hidden inside the ledger's back cover.<\/p>\n
Mark approached the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat document?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin ignored him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want the ledger, come to Dad's old house at midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detectives exchanged looks.<\/p>\n
I asked why I should trust him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Arthur wrote another name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe person who was supposed to receive the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur's will names David.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin lowered his voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire gripped my hand.<\/p>\n
I asked the only question that mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
When Kevin answered, the words seemed impossible.<\/p>\n
Arthur had left everything, he claimed, to a child none of us knew existed.<\/p>\n
Then the call went dead.<\/p>\n
Mark kept one hand on the doorknob. For the first time that afternoon, he looked frightened rather than angry. \u201cThis is absurd.\u201d Sarah closed her laptop. \u201cThe investigators disagree.\u201d \u201cYou … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}