Chapter 6 - WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FATHER
My father's death had always been described as sudden.
A heart attack.
Natural causes.
Unfortunate.
I had accepted it.
Until now.
Emily told me what she had learned from Tyler.
He had been angry.
He had wanted to frighten her.
And during the months of threats, he had said things he should never have said.
“He told me your father was going to report your mother,” Emily said.
“To whom?”
“The police.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because he found the money.”
I already knew that.
But there was more.
My father had discovered that my mother had been stealing from the company.
He had planned to divorce her.
He had planned to remove her from control of the family assets.
He had also planned to change his will.
“Did he do it?”
Emily shook her head.
“He died before he could.”
I closed my eyes.
The timeline was suddenly clear.
My father discovered the theft.
He gathered evidence.
He wrote me the letter.
Then he died.
My mother inherited control.
Martin Cole handled the estate.
And Tyler became her partner.
For years, they had taken money.
Then they had targeted me.
The only question was whether my father's death had been murder.
Rachel hired a forensic medical investigator.
The original autopsy records were reviewed.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then they found something.
My father's blood tests had never been properly preserved.
But the hospital records contained a note.
A nurse had reported that my father had been given medication he had not been prescribed.
The note had been removed from the final report.
But the nurse still had a copy.
The medication could have triggered a cardiac event.
The nurse had reported it.
The report had disappeared.
I sat in silence.
Rachel looked at me.
“We need to be careful.”
“Why?”
“Because suspicion is not proof.”
“I know.”
“We cannot accuse your mother without evidence.”
“I know.”
I looked at the files.
“But we can find evidence.”
The nurse was located.
Her name was Gloria Harper.
She was retired now.
When we met her, she was nervous.
“I remember your father,” she said.
“He was kind.”
“What happened?”
She looked down.
“I gave him medication.”
“What medication?”
“Something I believed had been ordered by his doctor.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
“Who gave you the order?”
She hesitated.
“Martin Cole.”
My blood ran cold.
“Martin Cole was your father's attorney.”
“He came to the hospital.”
“Why?”
“He said your mother had authorized him to handle everything.”
Gloria shook her head.
“I didn't question it.”
“Did my father know?”
“He was unconscious.”
I felt sick.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“I tried.”
She looked at me.
“The next day, my supervisor told me to forget it.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
But I did.
Money.
Influence.
Fear.
All the things my mother had always used.
Gloria gave us her old notes.
They were enough to reopen the investigation.
The police began looking into my father's death.
And then Martin Cole disappeared.
His office was empty.
His house was empty.
His bank accounts had been drained.
He had fled.
That told us everything.
My mother and Tyler were still missing.
But they were not hiding.
They were moving money.
Rachel discovered that Tyler's corporation had begun transferring assets to offshore accounts.
They were preparing to disappear.
We went to court.
A judge froze the remaining assets.
The house was placed under legal protection.
The company was secured.
The financial transfers were halted.
For the first time, my mother lost control.
And that was when she called me.
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
“You should have stayed away.”
I said nothing.
She continued.
“Your father was weak.”
My blood ran cold.
“What did you do?”
She laughed softly.
“Everything I did was for this family.”
“You murdered him?”
Silence.
Then she said:
“Be careful, Jake.”
I gripped the phone.
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
Her voice became colder.
“I simply made sure he stopped interfering.”
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
The recording had been captured.
The police had heard every word.
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And for the first time…
My mother had finally said enough.
