Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY PLACE AT CHRISTMAS DINNER
The Christmas dinner was canceled, but the mansion still glowed with
lights. Tristan couldn’t bring himself to remove the tree. Mabel had
decorated its lower branches with paper stars from Rosa’s box.
Alina sat with her in the sitting room, helping her attach a crooked
gold star.
“Grandma would like this,” Mabel said.
“She would love it.”
“Will Grandma come back?”
Alina chose her words carefully. “Not in the way we wish. But we can
keep her things safe, and we can remember her.”
Mabel nodded and pressed the star into place.
Across the room, Tristan was on the phone with his attorney. The first
official review of the recording had uncovered an alarming detail: the
hospital log showed that Isabelle’s prescribed medication had been
replaced with a concentrated dose from a different batch. The
authorization bore Dr. Bell’s initials.
But there was a second signature.
A nurse’s.
Tristan read the name.
“Margaret Shaw.”
Alina looked up. “Serena’s mother?”
Daniel nodded. “She worked at the private clinic at the time. She
retired shortly after Isabelle died.”
Tristan’s expression darkened. “Find her.”
The next afternoon, Margaret Shaw arrived at the estate with a lawyer.
She was in her late sixties, elegantly dressed, and visibly frightened.
“I came because you said you had questions about Isabelle,” she said.
Tristan placed a copy of the medication log on the table.
“Did you sign this?”
Margaret stared at it.
“Yes.”
“Did you authorize the substitution?”
“No. Dr. Bell brought the form to me after Isabelle had already been
given the medication. He said the pharmacy had made an error and needed
my signature to correct the chart.”
“Did you know the dosage was dangerous?”
Margaret shook her head. “Not then.”
“Did Serena?”
Margaret’s face crumpled.
“She told me Isabelle was going to leave Tristan. She said the family
would be ruined if that happened. I thought she wanted to frighten her,
not kill her.”
The room fell silent.
“Did you help her?” Tristan asked.
“I signed a document I didn’t understand. I have regretted it every
day.”
“Why didn’t you come forward?”
“Serena told me she had copies of my signature and would tell the police
I had administered the dose. I was afraid.”
Tristan stood and turned toward Daniel.
“Call the investigator. She’ll give a statement.”
Margaret began to cry.
Alina looked at her, anger and pity fighting inside her.
“My mother spent years carrying this secret.”
May you like
Margaret lowered her head. “I know.”
“No,” Alina said softly. “You don’t.”
