Chapter 9: The Truth Buried With Grandma
Chapter 9: The Truth Buried With Grandma
The next morning, gray clouds hung low over Oakwood Cemetery.
Yellow police tape surrounded a quiet section of the grounds as forensic investigators prepared for the court-authorized exhumation of Evelyn Walker's body.
Only a handful of people were present.
Detective James Morrison.
Officer Daniel Ruiz.
The county medical examiner.
And two forensic pathologists.
No reporters.
No family.
The investigation was being kept confidential until the evidence could speak for itself.
As the casket was carefully lifted from the ground, Morrison couldn't shake the feeling that this case had begun long before Bridget's fall.
Someone had spent years building a lie.
Now, it was finally beginning to collapse.
At St. Andrew's Medical Center, I couldn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Tyler's hands pushing me toward the broken railing.
Sarah Chen walked into my room carrying two cups of coffee.
"One for me," she said with a smile. "One just so you can smell it."
I laughed softly.
"I miss coffee already."
"You'll be drinking it again soon."
She pulled a chair beside my bed.
"You look worried."
"I keep thinking about my grandmother."
Sarah nodded.
"You loved her."
"She raised me more than my parents did."
I stared out the window.
"I should've listened to her."
"What do you mean?"
"About six months ago, she told me something."
"What?"
I swallowed.
"She said if anything ever happened to her..."
"...I should never trust a smiling man asking easy questions."
Sarah frowned.
"Did she say who she meant?"
"No."
"But now..."
"I think she already knew."
Several hours later, the medical examiner called Detective Morrison into the laboratory.
"We've completed the preliminary examination."
"What did you find?"
The examiner placed several photographs on the table.
"There are no signs of trauma."
"So she wasn't physically attacked."
"No."
He pointed toward tissue samples.
"But toxicology tells a different story."
Morrison leaned closer.
"The sedative we found in Tyler's safe?"
The examiner nodded.
"It matches traces found in Evelyn Walker's preserved tissue."
Morrison's expression hardened.
"So she was drugged."
"Repeatedly."
The examiner slid over another report.
"Not once."
"Over several weeks."
Morrison stared at the numbers.
"Someone slowly weakened her."
"So her heart failure..."
The examiner finished the sentence.
"...may have been accelerated."
Silence filled the room.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying Mrs. Walker may have died from natural causes."
He paused.
"But someone intentionally made sure those natural causes arrived much sooner."
Across town, Harold Walker sat alone in his private office.
For the first time in years, he looked exhausted.
His attorney entered without knocking.
"We have a problem."
Harold didn't look up.
"Which one?"
"The police reopened Evelyn's death investigation."
Harold slowly closed the file in front of him.
"I expected that."
The attorney hesitated.
"They also froze several company accounts."
Harold's face remained unreadable.
"And?"
"The board wants answers."
"They'll get them."
"They're discussing removing you as CEO."
That finally caught Harold's attention.
"They won't."
"They might."
The attorney lowered his voice.
"If Tyler is arrested..."
"...they'll come after you next."
Harold stood and walked to the window.
"They don't have enough."
His attorney wasn't convinced.
"They found Marcus."
"They found the surveillance video."
"They have financial records."
Harold remained silent.
Then he quietly said,
"They still don't know who Miriam Ross really works for."
Later that afternoon, Detective Morrison received an unexpected visitor.
Lauren.
She looked exhausted.
"I remembered something."
He motioned for her to sit.
"Take your time."
"The night Bridget fell..."
Lauren clasped her hands together.
"I wasn't the only person watching from inside the house."
Morrison looked up.
"Who else was there?"
"I saw someone standing in the library."
"Could you see who?"
"No."
"The lights were off."
"But I remember something unusual."
"What?"
"The person was smoking."
Morrison frowned.
"Your family doesn't smoke."
"I know."
"But the smell..."
She closed her eyes.
"It wasn't cigarettes."
"It was cigars."
The detective immediately wrote down the detail.
"Who in the Walker family smokes cigars?"
Lauren answered without hesitation.
"Only Harold."
That evening, Morrison visited me again.
He explained everything they had learned about my grandmother's death.
When he finished, I sat in stunned silence.
"So..."
I whispered.
"She didn't just die."
"No."
"Someone stole time from her."
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
"I should've been there."
"You couldn't have known."
I looked at him.
"My father killed her, didn't he?"
Morrison didn't answer immediately.
"Right now..."
"...I believe your father knew much more than he's admitting."
Before either of us could say another word, Officer Ruiz burst into the room.
"Detective!"
Morrison stood.
"What happened?"
Ruiz handed him a forensic report.
"We finished analyzing the handgun from Tyler's safe."
Morrison scanned the first page.
His expression changed instantly.
"What is it?" I asked.
He slowly lowered the report.
"The gun wasn't used recently."
I exhaled in relief.
Then Morrison added,
"But we found one identifiable fingerprint that doesn't belong to Tyler."
"Whose is it?"
He looked directly at me.
"It belongs to Harold Walker."
Then he turned the page.
"And there's something else."
"A second fingerprint."
"Someone we've never investigated before."
The lab had already identified the owner.
The name at the bottom of the report read:
Mason Carter.
May you like
Lauren's eight-year-old son.
To Be Continued...
