Chapter 15 - THE LAST DOSE
Ambrose named Victor Lane.
My father’s older brother.
My uncle.
The man I had not seen since Dad’s funeral.
A respected philanthropist.
Former Carter-Lane chairman.
The person who had introduced Victoria to Dad.
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because there was always another person.
Federal agents brought Victor in.
He denied everything.
Then they showed him Ambrose’s records.
Payments.
Messages.
A voice memo.
Victor saying.
ROBERT WON’T SIGN WHILE HE’S LUCID.
My uncle stopped talking.
His attorney took over.
The scheme had begun before Victoria.
Victor wanted control of Carter-Lane.
Dad blocked him.
Ambrose offered a path.
Victoria became useful later.
Then greedy.
Then dangerous.
Victor had expected Dad to be weakened.
Not killed.
That was his defense.
As if there were a respectable amount of poisoning.
I watched from behind the glass.
Victor looked older than I remembered.
Small.
Not monstrous.
That made me angrier.
Monsters should look like monsters.
He looked like a man who sent birthday cards.
Federal agents arrested him.
Then Victoria asked to speak to me.
I refused.
She asked again.
Refused.
Then her lawyer delivered a handwritten note.
EMILY, I CAN PROVE YOUR MOTHER IS ALIVE.
I stopped breathing.
My mother had died when I was five.
Car accident.
Dad raised me alone.
Victoria entered our lives years later.
I showed the note to investigators.
They thought manipulation.
So did I.
Then Samuel Reed saw it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He sat down.
“Your mother’s body was never identified by Robert.”
I stared.
“What are you saying?”
“He was told the crash caused severe burns.”
“No.”
“Emily—”
“No.”
Daniel was not there.
I had told him to stay away.
For the first time, I wanted him there.
I hated that too.
DNA records from the old case were pulled.
The woman buried under my mother’s name was not genetically related to me.
My mother had not been in that grave.
Victoria had told one truth.
May you like
Somewhere, somehow, my mother might still be alive.
