Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Died With My Mother’s Secret
I spent the next morning staring at the photograph.
My mother.
Margaret Carter.
The hospital.
The sentence on the back.
Arthur must never know.
I'd spent my adult life believing my mother had died from natural causes.
A stroke.
That was what the doctors said.
That was what the records said.
That was what I had accepted.
But I'd been seventeen when she died.
At seventeen, you don't question doctors.
You question everything else.
I never questioned her death.
Now I couldn't stop.
Vincent entered my office at 7:00 a.m.
“We found Margaret's old employment records.”
He placed them on my desk.
“She worked at St. Vincent's for seven years.”
“Doing what?”
“Medical records.”
“Who supervised her?”
“Dr. Eleanor Shaw.”
The name meant nothing.
Vincent continued.
“Margaret resigned four days before your mother's death.”
“Why?”
“She was accused of accessing restricted files.”
“My mother's?”
“Yes.”
I leaned back.
“Does the hospital still have those files?”
“Some.”
“Get them.”
“I tried.”
“And?”
Vincent hesitated.
“They said the archive was destroyed by a flood fifteen years ago.”
I smiled.
“Do you believe them?”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
That afternoon, I drove to St. Vincent's myself.
Samuel was already there.
He stood beside Theo in the waiting room.
I stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
Samuel looked embarrassed.
“I had to bring him for a follow-up.”
I looked at Theo.
His face was pale.
The boy coughed.
I glanced at the hospital badge around Samuel's neck.
He wasn't wearing one.
“You don't work here.”
“No.”
“Then why are you in the employee entrance?”
Samuel looked away.
“My wife used to work here.”
I understood.
He was searching for answers too.
“What are you looking for?”
“Her records.”
“Why?”
Samuel swallowed.
“Before she died, Margaret told me she had made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She said she had trusted the wrong person.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn't tell me.”
“What else?”
“She said if anything happened to her, I should never let Theo meet a man named Arthur Pembroke.”
My stomach tightened.
“But he met me anyway.”
Samuel looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't know who you were.”
We stood in silence.
Then Theo tugged Samuel's sleeve.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“The doctor.”
“What about him?”
“He looks like the man in Mommy's picture.”
I turned.
An elderly doctor was walking down the corridor.
Dr. Shaw.
The name on my mother's employment records.
She stopped when she saw me.
Her face lost all color.
“Arthur?”
Nobody had called me by that tone in years.
Fear.
Real fear.
I approached her.
“You know me.”
She stared at Theo.
Then at Samuel.
Then back at me.
“Yes.”
“From where?”
“Your mother.”
My heart began racing.
“What happened to her?”
Dr. Shaw looked around.
“Not here.”
She led us into an empty consultation room.
She closed the door.
“Your mother believed someone was stealing from the hospital's charitable fund.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
I almost laughed.
“My father died when I was sixteen.”
“I know.”
“My father would never steal from a hospital.”
Dr. Shaw looked at me.
“I didn't say he did.”
She opened a small notebook.
“Your mother believed someone was using your father's name to move money.”
“Who?”
“She didn't know.”
“Then why involve my mother?”
“Because she found a ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“Patient donations.”
I frowned.
“What does that have to do with my family?”
“Everything.”
She told me the hospital had received large anonymous donations for decades.
Money went to poor patients.
Medical bills were paid.
Families were helped.
But some of that money had been diverted.
My mother traced the transactions.
They led to accounts controlled by several businessmen.
One of those businessmen was my father.
Except my father hadn't made the transfers.
Someone had forged his signature.
“Why would anyone frame my father?”
Dr. Shaw looked at me.
“Because he was trying to expose them.”
I felt a chill.
“Who were they?”
“Three men.”
She named the first.
Thomas Pembroke.
My father.
The second.
Victor Halbrook.
My father's business partner.
The third.
Joseph Kane.
A banker who had died years ago.
I recognized Victor's name.
My father's former partner.
A man I hadn't seen since childhood.
“What happened to Victor?”
“Disappeared.”
“When?”
“Shortly after your mother's death.”
I stared at Dr. Shaw.
“And Margaret?”
“She found the ledger.”
“What did she do with it?”
“She gave it to your mother.”
That explained the photograph.
The two women had been working together.
My mother hadn't simply died.
She had been investigating something.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Dr. Shaw looked ashamed.
“Because the person who warned me had your mother’s blood on his hands.”
“Who?”
She started crying.
“I never knew his name.”
I stepped closer.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then what did you see?”
“Your mother was arguing with someone the night before she died.”
“Who?”
“A man.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall.”
“Age?”
“Forties.”
“Anything else?”
“He wore a silver ring.”
I froze.
Vincent wore a silver ring.
But dozens of men did.
Then Theo spoke.
“My mom had a picture of him.”
Everyone turned.
“Where?” I asked.
Theo pointed at his father's jacket pocket.
Samuel reached inside.
He pulled out a small folded photograph.
I opened it.
The man standing beside Margaret was not Vincent.
He was younger.
But I recognized him.
Victor Halbrook.
My father's business partner.
The man everyone believed had disappeared.
My phone rang.
Vincent.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found the missing three thousand dollars.”
“Where?”
“In Samuel's locker.”
Samuel went pale.
“What?”
“I didn't put it there.”
Vincent's voice continued.
“There is more.”
“What?”
“The money had fingerprints.”
“Whose?”
“Samuel's.”
Samuel stared at me.
“I swear to God…”
I raised my hand.
“Where is the evidence?”
“On its way.”
I looked at Samuel.
Someone had framed him.
But why?
And how?
Then Theo whispered,
“Daddy didn't do it.”
“I know.”
Theo looked surprised.
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked at the yellow bus in my hand.
“Because somebody who tried to steal from me wouldn't have given me his coat.”
Theo smiled.
For some reason, that small smile hurt.
Then the hospital lights went out.
A nurse screamed.
Glass shattered somewhere down the hall.
Vincent shouted into his earpiece.
“Security breach!”
I grabbed Theo.
Samuel moved toward us.
Then we heard footsteps.
Fast.
Running.
A man burst through the door.
Victor Halbrook.
Older.
Gray.
Alive.
He looked directly at me.
“Arthur.”
I raised my gun.
He didn't flinch.
“You're looking for the wrong enemy.”
Then he looked at Theo.
“And that boy is in more danger than you know.”
Victor turned and disappeared down the corridor.
I chased him.
But he was gone.
All he left behind was a single object on the floor.
A blood-stained hospital bracelet.
May you like
The name on it read:
MARGARET CARTER.
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