Chapter 9 - THE SECOND SUSPECT
Claire stared at Ethan.
He had heard Anna’s final words through the speaker.
“Closer to you.”
Ethan repeated.
Claire stepped away from him.
“You think she meant me?”
“No.”
“I don’t know what she meant.”
Ethan looked hurt.
“Claire, I was twenty-three when my father died.”
“You were living at the estate.”
“So was half the family.”
“What medication was he taking?”
Ethan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever see him sick?”
“No.”
That answer frightened Claire more.
Jonathan Whitmore had supposedly died of heart failure.
Yet Ethan remembered no serious illness.
Back at the estate, the police requested Jonathan’s medical files.
Most were missing.
One record remained.
It listed Jonathan’s primary physician.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
Ethan went still.
Claire noticed.
“You know him?”
“He was my mother’s doctor too.”
“Your biological mother?”
Ethan nodded.
“She died when I was seven.”
Claire looked at the record.
“Is Reed still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Ethan hesitated.
“He works for Whitmore Health.”
Claire almost laughed.
“Of course he does.”
They drove directly to Reed’s private clinic.
The receptionist claimed he was unavailable.
Claire refused to leave.
Ten minutes later, Reed appeared.
He was seventy-four.
His expression changed the moment he saw Claire.
“You look like Anna.”
Claire stood.
“You knew my mother?”
Reed closed his office door.
“I knew everyone.”
“Did Jonathan die of a heart attack?”
Reed stared at Ethan.
Then at Claire.
“Who gave you his old file?”
“Answer me.”
Reed lowered himself into a chair.
“No.”
Ethan stiffened.
“No what?”
“Jonathan did not die of natural causes.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Then how did he die?”
Reed looked toward the closed door.
“Someone slowly altered his medication over several months.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
“But you signed the death certificate.”
Reed’s face twisted with shame.
“I was threatened.”
“By Eleanor?”
Reed shook his head.
“No.”
Claire felt cold.
“Then who?”
Reed opened his desk drawer.
Before he could answer, the office lights went out.
May you like
Glass shattered.
A gunshot cracked through the room.
