Chapter 6
Michael asked for me before questioning.
Detective Collins advised against it.
I said yes anyway.
Not because I wanted answers.
Because I wanted him to see me after knowing I was awake.
They brought him into a small hospital conference room in handcuffs.
He looked terrible.
Good.
His hair was messy.
His eyes were red.
His expensive jacket was wrinkled from the arrest.
For years, he had played the wounded younger brother.
Charming.
Careless.
Always unlucky.
Now the costume hung badly on him.
“Daniel,” he said. “You have to listen.”
I sat across from him.
Collins stood near the wall.
Recording.
“Talk.”
He glanced at her.
“Alone.”
“No.”
His mouth tightened.
“Evelyn forced me.”
“No.”
“She said you were losing control.”
“You signed a petition to take my child.”
His eyes flashed.
“To protect her.”
“From peanuts you helped put in front of her?”
He leaned forward.
“She was never supposed to die.”
I went still.
There it was again.
That filthy sentence.
As if almost killing a child became acceptable if death was not the goal.
“You stole her medication,” I said.
“I moved it.”
“You stole it.”
“I needed proof you were careless.”
“You needed access to her trust.”
He looked away.
That was the first honest thing his face had done.
“How much did you take?”
Silence.
Collins stepped closer.
“How much, Michael?”
He swallowed.
“Two hundred thousand.”
I laughed once.
It sounded dead.
“Anna knew.”
His face changed.
So he had not known about the journal.
Good.
I leaned closer.
“She wrote it down.”
“She was always dramatic.”
I stood so fast the chair slammed backward.
Collins moved between us.
Michael flinched.
Coward.
I pointed at him.
“Do not speak about my wife like you did not rob her daughter.”
He looked terrified now.
Finally.
“I owed people,” he whispered.
“Evelyn?”
“No. Worse.”
Collins’s eyes sharpened.
“Who?”
Michael shook his head.
“If I tell you, they’ll kill me.”
I leaned over the table.
“If you don’t, they may get near Lily.”
His face crumpled.
Then he whispered a name.
May you like
“Victor Sloane.”
Collins went pale.
