Chapter 1 - The Fatal Question
The speakerphone amplified the silence in the tiny hospital room.
I stared at the glowing screen of my phone.
Michael was waiting for my answer.
“Daniel, are you there?”
His voice sounded perfectly calm.
It sounded like the voice of a loving uncle.
It sounded like the voice of a man who hadn’t just signed my life away.
I looked at Detective Collins.
She held up a hand, silently urging me to stay calm.
She pointed to the phone and mouthed a single word.
Talk.
I swallowed the dry lump in my throat.
“I’m here, Michael.”
“I got a call from someone at the luncheon,” Michael said.
“They said Lily had a severe allergic reaction to peanuts.”
My blood ran completely cold.
Detective Collins immediately began writing on her small notepad.
She held the pad up so I could read it.
Who called him? The paramedics didn’t release details.
I took a shaky breath.
“Who called you, Michael?”
There was a slight pause on the other end of the line.
It was barely a second long.
But in that second, I heard the gears turning in his head.
“Just one of Evelyn’s board members,” Michael replied smoothly.
“I didn't catch a name.”
“They just said the ambulance was on its way.”
He was lying.
Nobody at that table had Michael’s phone number except Evelyn.
And Evelyn had been too busy accusing me of negligence to make a phone call.
“Is she okay?” Michael asked.
His voice dripped with counterfeit concern.
“She’s resting,” I said, keeping my tone carefully neutral.
“I’m coming to the hospital right now,” Michael announced.
“No,” I said quickly.
I looked at the detective for guidance.
She shook her head and wrote another note.
Let him come. We need his phone.
“I mean,” I corrected myself, “you don’t have to rush.”
“We are in Room 304.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Daniel.”
“You’re my brother.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
The call ended with a soft click.
I lowered the phone slowly.
My hands were trembling uncontrollably.
My own brother.
The man who had eaten dinner at my table every night for two years.
The man who had cried on my shoulder at Anna’s funeral.
“He knew,” I whispered to the empty room.
“He knew exactly what Evelyn was going to do.”
Detective Collins stepped closer to the bed.
“He is the secondary beneficiary of the trust if something happens to you.”
“If you are deemed unfit, he gets control.”
“If you go to jail for criminal negligence, he gets everything.”
I looked down at Lily.
She was watching me with wide, terrified eyes.
“Dad?” she whispered softly.
“Is Uncle Mike a bad guy too?”
My heart shattered into a million pieces.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, sweetheart.”
“Never again.”
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Detective Collins pulled her radio from her belt.
“We need to set a trap.”
