Chapter 5
I did not sleep that night.
Lily did, but only after the doctor adjusted her oxygen and the nurse promised no one would enter without saying their name first.
I sat under the dim hospital light reading photocopies of Anna’s journal.
My wife’s handwriting was everywhere.
Sharp when she was angry.
Round when she was tired.
There were notes about Lily’s allergy.
Recipes.
School reminders.
Then, six months before Anna died, the entries changed.
Michael asked about Lily’s trust again.
Daniel thinks he is harmless because guilt makes him generous.
Evelyn called. She wants trustee language reviewed.
I do not trust either of them.
My hands shook.
Anna had seen the pattern while I was busy grieving a future that had not yet happened.
Another entry.
If anything happens to me, Daniel must not let Michael near Lily’s inheritance.
I read that sentence until the words blurred.
Anna’s death had been sudden.
A car accident on a wet bridge.
A truck crossed the center line.
The police called it tragedy.
I had accepted that because grief had emptied me.
Now I wondered what else I had accepted because pain made questions impossible.
Collins came back at dawn.
“We found Michael.”
I stood.
“Where?”
“Airport hotel. He had cash, your laptop, and medical records.”
“Arrested?”
“Yes.”
“And the second injector?”
Her mouth tightened.
“He didn’t have it.”
I looked toward Lily.
She was still sleeping.
“Then where is it?”
“We think Evelyn passed it to someone else.”
“Who?”
Collins hesitated.
“The chef from the luncheon is missing.”
The chef.
I remembered him nodding as I explained Lily’s allergy.
I remembered him writing peanut-free in thick black marker.
I remembered trusting that a child’s life mattered more than a rich woman’s plan.
“What’s his name?”
“Grant Keller.”
I knew the name.
Everyone in the city did.
Celebrity chef.
Evelyn’s favorite charity darling.
Collins continued.
“We also found texts between him and Michael.”
“What did they say?”
She showed me.
Make sure the first injector disappears.
The second goes in Daniel’s car after the ambulance leaves.
May you like
I stared at the phone.
They had planned to frame me completely.
