Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO STAYED
The police arrived before midnight.
Detective Harris examined the garage, collected the recording device, and sent officers to the old factory. Adrian gave a statement about the missing vehicle but did not yet reveal the full extent of his recovery.
Emma sat in the kitchen with an ice pack pressed against her knee.
Adrian entered quietly.
“May I sit?”
She shrugged.
He pulled out the chair opposite her.
“I owe you an apology.”
“You owe me more than one.”
“I know.”
“Why did you hire me?”
“Daniel found your application through the care agency. You had excellent references.”
“That isn't what I meant. Why did you keep me here?”
Adrian looked at her hands.
“Because you treated me like a person. You never spoke over me. You didn't look at my chair before you looked at my face.”
Emma gave a small, tired laugh.
“That's a very low standard.”
“You'd be surprised.”
She removed the ice pack.
“Did you ever plan to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When I knew who had caused the accident.”
“And if you never found out?”
He didn't answer.
Emma leaned back.
“My father spent the last year of his life in a rehabilitation center. After his stroke, people talked to my mother as if he wasn't in the room. They made decisions about him while he sat there listening. I promised myself I would never treat someone that way.”
Adrian listened.
“When I came here, I thought you were angry because you had lost your independence. Sometimes you were. Sometimes you were frightened. I tried to make this house feel less like a hospital.”
“You did.”
“And all that time, you knew you could stand.”
“I couldn't do everything I wanted. I still needed help.”
“Then you could have told me that.”
“Yes.”
She looked away.
Adrian reached into his jacket and placed a folded paper on the table.
“What is this?”
“Your original employment agreement. I have asked the agency to release you from the placement without penalty. You'll receive all the pay you're owed, plus compensation for the extra hours you worked.”
Emma didn't touch it.
“Are you firing me?”
“No. I'm giving you the choice to leave.”
She looked at him.
“That's not the same thing.”
“No.”
“Are you asking me to stay?”
“I am asking you to decide what you want without feeling trapped by my money or my position.”
For a moment, her expression softened.
Then Daniel appeared in the doorway.
“Sir, Detective Harris wants to speak with you.”
Adrian stood.
“What happened at the factory?”
“They found the sedan. There was blood, but no body. They also found a phone inside the trunk.”
“Whose phone?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Registered to Dr. Marcus Vale.”
Adrian went still.
Vale had been the physician overseeing his rehabilitation.
The same doctor who had told him his recovery was unlikely.
The same doctor who had signed the altered medical report.
Emma looked from Daniel to Adrian.
“Is he the person who caused the accident?”
May you like
“I don't know,” Adrian said.
But he was beginning to suspect the truth was worse than he had imagined.
