Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO SIGNED THE DEATH CERTIFICATE
Daniel found Dr. Bell’s car near the river, but the doctor himself was
gone. The vehicle had been wiped clean. In the passenger footwell,
however, investigators discovered a torn hospital wristband bearing
Isabelle’s name.
Tristan stared at the photograph Daniel sent him.
“Why would he keep that?”
“To remind himself what he did,” Daniel said. “Or to threaten someone
with it.”
The memory card from Rosa’s box had been copied and sent to a forensic
specialist. By dawn, Daniel had a preliminary report.
The audio file was damaged, but one sentence was clear.
A man’s voice said, “The dosage was supposed to make her sleep, not stop
her heart.”
A woman answered, “Then make sure the report says her condition
worsened.”
Tristan played the recording again.
He recognized the woman’s voice.
Serena.
The man’s voice sounded like Dr. Bell.
Alina stood by the study window, her arms wrapped around herself. “My
mother heard them.”
“She did,” Tristan said.
“Why didn’t she go to the police?”
“Maybe she tried. Maybe someone stopped her.”
Daniel entered with another file. “There’s a second problem. Rosa’s
hospital access records show that she requested Isabelle’s medication
log twice. Both requests were denied. The third time, her employee
credentials were deactivated.”
Alina shook her head. “She never told me.”
“She may have been trying to keep you out of it,” Tristan replied.
He looked at the audio specialist’s notes. The recording had been made
on a small device hidden in the blue bird pendant. The date matched the
night Isabelle died.
“Can it be authenticated?”
“Not yet,” Daniel said. “But the metadata is consistent with the date.
We need the original device and the doctor’s records.”
A housekeeper knocked and announced that Serena was asking to see
Tristan.
He refused.
A moment later, Serena appeared in the doorway anyway, accompanied by
two guards.
“You’re making a terrible mistake,” she said.
Tristan didn’t rise. “You should have stayed in the library.”
“You’ve been listening to a recording made by a dying woman who was
confused.”
“Rosa was not dying when she recorded it.”
Serena’s eyes flickered toward Alina.
“You have no idea what that girl wants.”
Alina stepped forward. “I want my mother’s ashes treated with respect.”
Serena laughed. “Your mother was paid to care for this family. She
wasn’t part of it.”
Mabel appeared in the hallway, holding her rabbit. She had heard enough.
“Grandma was my family,” she said.
Serena’s face tightened.
Tristan stood. “Leave.”
Serena looked at him. “You would destroy our future over a servant’s
May you like
story?”
“No,” he said. “You did that yourself.”
