Chapter 6 - The Phone Call From The Dead
Richard stared at the message on his phone.
The words did not move.
They did not disappear.
They simply sat there.
A sentence that should have been impossible.
YOU NEVER ASKED WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT ELEANOR DIED.
For three years, Richard had forced himself not to ask.
Not because he did not care.
Because the answer hurt too much.
Eleanor died during childbirth.
That was what every doctor told him.
That was what the hospital records said.
That was what everyone repeated until it became the only version of reality he knew.
But now someone was telling him he had never known the truth.
His hand tightened around the phone.
“Who are you?”
No answer.
He called back.
The number no longer existed.
The next morning, Richard went to the hospital where Eleanor died.
He had not been there since the funeral.
The building looked smaller than he remembered.
That bothered him.
Because grief had made it feel like the place where his entire world ended.
A nurse at the front desk recognized him.
“Mr. Sterling?”
Richard nodded.
“I need old records.”
The nurse looked uncomfortable.
“From three years ago?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated.
“Those files are archived.”
“I own half the medical buildings in this city.”
The woman looked at him.
“That doesn’t change hospital policy.”
Richard almost smiled.
A normal person would have become angry.
But after everything he had discovered, anger felt useless.
“Please.”
Something in his voice changed her mind.
Two hours later, Richard sat in a small office reading documents.
Birth records.
Medical notes.
Emergency reports.
Everything looked normal.
Until he found one page.
A handwritten note.
Not typed.
Not official.
Written by a nurse.
Patient Eleanor Sterling became unstable after suspicious medication reaction.
Richard stopped.
Suspicious medication reaction?
He kept reading.
The note ended there.
Someone had removed the rest.
“Mr. Sterling?”
Richard looked up.
An older doctor stood at the door.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
Eleanor’s doctor.
“I thought you would never come.”
Richard stood.
“What does that mean?”
The doctor closed the door.
“Because Eleanor tried to tell you.”
Richard froze.
“Tell me what?”
Dr. Reed looked at the floor.
“She was afraid.”
“Of what?”
The doctor hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Victoria.”
Richard felt the room tilt.
“No.”
Dr. Reed looked at him.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Maybe.”
The doctor sighed.
“But your wife was asking questions before she died.”
“About what?”
The doctor looked toward the window.
“About someone replacing her.”
Richard’s face changed.
“What?”
“She believed someone wanted her gone.”
That evening, Richard returned home.
Victoria was waiting.
She smiled.
“You look tired.”
Richard stared at her.
“I went to the hospital today.”
For a fraction of a second…
Victoria froze.
Then she recovered.
“Why?”
Richard watched carefully.
“To see Eleanor’s records.”
The smile disappeared.
Only briefly.
But he saw it.
May you like
And this time…
he trusted what he saw.
