Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO WAKE UP
Eleanor Moretti collapsed at breakfast.
One moment, she was complaining that the coffee tasted like burnt furniture.
The next, her cup slipped from her fingers.
Porcelain shattered against the floor.
Hannah was beside her before Walter could reach the table.
“Mrs. Moretti?”
No response.
Hannah checked her breathing and pulse.
“Walter, call 911. Tell them she's unresponsive.”
Dominic entered from the adjoining hallway.
“What happened?”
“She collapsed. We need paramedics.”
He knelt beside his mother.
“Mom?”
Eleanor's eyes remained closed.
Hannah checked the time.
“Dominic, move back. Give her room.”
He obeyed without argument.
That frightened him more than anything.
Dominic Moretti had spent his life giving orders.
Now he could do nothing except watch a twenty-six-year-old woman protect his mother.
The paramedics arrived eight minutes later.
Eleanor had regained consciousness, but she was confused and unable to remember the morning.
Hannah handed the lead paramedic a handwritten timeline of Eleanor's symptoms and recent drinks.
“Please give this to the emergency physician.”
The paramedic scanned it.
“You medical?”
“Former nursing student.”
Dominic looked at her.
It was the first time she had admitted even that much.
At the hospital, blood tests revealed an unexpected sedative in Eleanor's system.
The attending physician, Dr. Samuel Pierce, asked Dominic to step into the hallway.
“Does your mother have a prescription for this medication?”
“No.”
“Has she been treated for severe anxiety or insomnia?”
“No.”
Pierce studied the chart.
“The concentration is concerning. It may explain her repeated dizziness.”
Dominic felt his jaw tighten.
“Could someone have given it to her without her knowledge?”
“Yes.”
“Could it kill her?”
“In sufficient quantities, especially combined with alcohol, it could cause serious respiratory complications.”
Dominic thought about Vanessa offering his mother wine.
And Hannah taking the glass.
His phone rang.
It was Walter.
“Sir, Vanessa left the estate.”
“When?”
“Forty minutes ago.”
“Did she take anything?”
“We're checking.”
Dominic looked through the glass toward his mother's hospital room.
“Lock down the house. Preserve every recording and every medication container.”
Walter hesitated.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“Vanessa used your authorization code to access the family safe.”
Dominic went still.
“That code was changed last month.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What did she take?”
“A sealed envelope from your father's private collection.”
“Which envelope?”
Walter paused.
“The one marked December 14.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
The date again.
His father's succession documents.
Margaret Reed's death.
And now a missing envelope.
When he returned to Eleanor's room, Hannah sat beside the bed.
Eleanor was awake.
Her face looked gray against the pillow.
Dominic approached.
“Mom.”
She turned toward him.
“Don't look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I'm already dead.”
He pulled up a chair.
“You were drugged.”
“I suspected.”
His head snapped up.
“You knew?”
Eleanor looked at Hannah.
“She told me something was wrong.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I wasn't sure who I could trust.”
The words struck harder than Dominic expected.
“I'm your son.”
“Yes,” Eleanor whispered. “And you're also Salvatore's.”
He stared.
“What does that mean?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Your father did terrible things.”
“I know.”
“No. You know the things he allowed you to see.”
Hannah lowered her gaze.
Dominic leaned forward.
“What happened at St. Catherine's?”
Eleanor's breathing became uneven.
“Margaret discovered the order.”
“The blood thinner?”
Eleanor nodded.
“She called me. Said someone had altered your chart.”
“Who?”
Eleanor began trembling.
“Your father told me it was a mistake.”
Dominic felt sick.
“Did he write the order?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Eleanor reached for his hand.
“Dominic, I tried to stop it.”
“Stop what?”
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“The cover-up.”
Hannah looked up.
Eleanor continued.
“Margaret had proof. She refused to surrender it. Salvatore threatened her job, then her family.”
Dominic stared at his mother.
“You knew she was innocent.”
Eleanor nodded.
“And you let her lose everything?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of Dad?”
“Of what would happen to you.”
Dominic stood.
He turned away because he could not bear to look at her.
Behind him, Eleanor whispered, “She wasn't the only one who suffered.”
Hannah stiffened.
Eleanor looked directly at her.
“Your mother didn't die because she was careless.”
Hannah gripped the chair.
“What?”
Eleanor's voice broke.
“She called me the night before the accident. She said she had found something else.”
Dominic turned back.
“What?”
“A recording.”
Hannah's breath caught.
“Of whom?”
Eleanor stared at the ceiling.
“Salvatore.”
Dominic felt the room tilt.
“What was he saying?”
Eleanor began crying.
“He was talking about a second patient.”
Hannah leaned closer.
“What second patient?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I never heard the whole recording.”
“Where is it?” Dominic demanded.
Eleanor looked toward Hannah.
“Your mother hid it.”
“Where?”
“She said her daughter would know when she was old enough.”
Hannah stared at her.
Then she remembered something.
A music box.
An ugly wooden music box her mother had given her shortly before she died.
Hannah had kept it for nine years.
Its mechanism had stopped working the week Margaret was killed.
She had never repaired it.
Because her mother had made her promise not to let anyone open it.
Hannah stood so suddenly her chair scraped the floor.
Dominic looked at her.
“What is it?”
She whispered, “I think I know where the recording is.”
At that exact moment, her phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Her father's apartment door stood open.
The living room had been destroyed.
May you like
Below the photograph were six words.
Bring the recording or lose him.
