Chapter 12 - What Happened to Caroline
Daniel sat at the cottage table with three officers around him.
Ethan stood across from him.
"Talk."
Daniel looked exhausted.
"Caroline contacted me six weeks before she died."
Victoria, in a remote interview room, was brought onto a secure video link.
She stared at her brother.
"You knew her?"
Daniel nodded.
"She found Dad's original safety report. She found Collins's payments."
Victoria's face tightened.
"You let me blame Ethan."
"I tried to tell you."
"No, you didn't."
"You were already working with Collins."
Daniel looked at Ethan.
"Caroline wanted me to convince Victoria to stop."
"Did you?"
"I failed."
"What happened the night Caroline died?"
Daniel's voice dropped.
"She called me from the hospital."
Ethan froze.
"She was conscious?"
"Yes."
Ethan had been told she deteriorated too quickly to speak.
Daniel continued.
"She said someone changed her chart."
Sarah looked at Lang through the remote case notes.
"Who?"
"She didn't know. She told me to get to Leo."
"Why didn't you call me?"
Daniel looked ashamed.
"Because Collins threatened Victoria. He said if I interfered, she would be blamed for everything."
Victoria stared at him.
"You protected me?"
"I thought I was."
Ethan's eyes burned.
"And Caroline?"
Daniel looked down.
"She died before I got there."
Detective Chen opened hospital records.
Caroline's final chart had been amended at 2:13 a.m.
Using Dr. Lang's credentials.
Lang went white.
"I wasn't there."
Chen said, "Then who had your login?"
Lang whispered, "Collins."
Victoria covered her face.
For the first time, her tears looked real.
Then Daniel said, "There's more."
Ethan looked at him.
"Of course there is."
"Collins didn't plan the guardianship alone."
"Who else?"
Daniel glanced toward the window.
"The person funding him."
Nathan frowned. "Who?"
Daniel answered:
"Margaret Sloan."
The Mercer Foundation board chair.
May you like
The woman who had almost voted Ethan unfit at sunrise.
And she had just disappeared from the secure video conference.
