Chapter 7 - MY MOTHER'S CONFESSION
The second recording was longer.
Eleven minutes.
Laura had hidden the phone beneath her coat during a conversation with Diane two days before the crash.
My mother’s voice came through clearly.
“You need to stop digging.”
Laura answered, “Robert is dead.”
“Robert had a heart condition.”
“He was going to call the FBI.”
Silence.
Then Diane:
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know Grant stole millions.”
Another pause.
“And I know you helped him.”
Diane’s voice hardened.
“You have a child. Think about her.”
“I am.”
“No. You’re playing detective.”
“Someone changed Robert’s medication.”
My hands went numb.
Laura continued.
“The hospital toxicology showed a drug interaction that wasn’t on his prescription list.”
Diane whispered, “Where did you get that?”
Laura didn’t answer.
My mother’s breathing changed.
Then:
“Give me the report.”
“No.”
“Laura.”
“I made copies.”
“You’re making a terrible mistake.”
“No, Diane.”
Laura’s voice was steady.
“You did.”
The recording ended there.
Ortiz looked at me.
“Your father’s hospital retained serum samples.”
“What?”
“Standard pathology retention.”
My pulse increased.
“Can they test them?”
“We’re getting a court order.”
“What are you looking for?”
“A cardiac medication he wasn’t prescribed.”
Three days later, we had the answer.
Digoxin.
My father had never been prescribed digoxin.
In high enough doses, it could cause a fatal arrhythmia.
Someone had poisoned him.
Diane denied doing it.
Grant denied everything.
Thomas said the toxicology could be contamination.
Then Ortiz discovered something else.
Nine days before my father died, Diane had filled a prescription for digoxin.
Not for herself.
For her mother.
My grandmother.
Who had died six months earlier.
The prescription had been renewed by telephone.
Using a physician authorization number that turned out to be fraudulent.
My mother was arrested.
I watched officers place handcuffs around her wrists.
She looked at me.
“Daniel, I did not kill your father.”
I said nothing.
“I swear.”
Still nothing.
“Grant did.”
That made me look at her.
“He used me.”
Ortiz stepped between us.
“You can tell us downtown.”
Diane shook her head desperately.
“No. Daniel needs to understand.”
I finally spoke.
“Understand what?”
“Grant told me Robert was having episodes.”
“What episodes?”
“Chest pain. Dizziness.”
“He wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“What did you give him?”
Her face collapsed.
My stomach turned.
“What did you give Dad?”
“A pill.”
Natalie gasped behind me.
Diane cried harder.
“Grant said it would calm his heart.”
“You poisoned him.”
“No!”
“You handed him the pill.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You lied for three years.”
“I was afraid.”
“Laura was afraid.”
That stopped her.
I stepped closer.
“Laura was afraid, and she still tried to tell the truth.”
Diane couldn’t look at me.
“You watched me bury her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
My voice came out almost calm.
“You’re sorry Emma found the phone.”
She looked up.
That landed.
Because it was true.
The FBI took her away.
I thought I would feel relief.
Instead, I felt hollow.
Then Thomas Voss called.
“Daniel, Grant is moving Emma’s trust.”
I gripped the phone.
“What?”
“He filed emergency documents this morning.”
“Why?”
“To protect the assets from the criminal investigation.”
“Protect them where?”
“Offshore.”
My blood went cold.
“When?”
“Forty-eight hours.”
“Can you stop it?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Yes.”
There was always a price with Thomas.
“What do you want?”
“To talk.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
“Come to the police.”
“No.”
“Then we have nothing to discuss.”
Thomas lowered his voice.
“Daniel, the person who killed Robert Mercer was not Grant.”
I stopped.
“You just told me my mother gave him the pill.”
“She did.”
“Then who?”
Thomas spoke five words.
“Ask Natalie what she remembers.”
The line disconnected.
I turned.
May you like
My sister was standing ten feet away.
And the expression on her face told me she had heard every word.
