Chapter 3 - WHY NO ONE CALLED ME
The patrol deputy did not arrive because of me.
Our neighbor had called after seeing three cars parked partially on the grass and hearing raised voices.
That embarrassed Vanessa more than anything else that night.
“We’re grieving,” she told Deputy Morgan at the door. “There’s no emergency.”
I stepped beside her.
“There may be.”
She turned sharply.
“Daniel.”
“My mother died here last night under circumstances I don’t understand.”
The deputy looked at the coffin.
Then at Vanessa.
“Was the death reported?”
“Yes,” she said.
“To whom?”
“Dr. Bennett certified it.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Her mouth tightened.
Deputy Morgan asked for the death paperwork.
Lucas produced it.
He had apparently been carrying copies.
The preliminary death certificate listed cerebrovascular accident, probable hemorrhagic stroke.
Attending physician: Samuel Bennett, M.D.
The deputy read it.
“Any reason you believe the death wasn’t natural?”
I could have played Mother’s recording.
I didn’t.
Not yet.
Instead I said, “Medication may have been removed from the house after she died.”
That changed the conversation.
Lucas sighed.
“I disposed of expired prescriptions because the funeral home asked us to secure medication.”
“The funeral home asked you personally?” the deputy said.
Lucas looked irritated.
“It was common sense.”
Deputy Morgan asked to see the trash.
Lucas folded his arms.
“You need a warrant.”
The deputy nodded.
“You’re correct.”
I almost smiled.
Lucas was not stupid.
That made him dangerous.
Deputy Morgan took my information and advised me to contact the Charleston County Coroner’s Office if I had concerns about the cause of death.
“If the body hasn’t been buried, tell the funeral home not to proceed until you speak with the coroner.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“The funeral is tomorrow.”
“Then make the call tonight.”
After the deputy left, Lucas followed me into the library.
“You’re going to turn your mother’s funeral into an investigation because a housekeeper remembers some pills?”
“Why did you throw them away?”
“I told you.”
“Why were you here at three seventeen in the morning?”
“I was helping my sister.”
“With trash?”
“With everything.”
“Mother disliked you.”
He smiled thinly.
“The feeling was mutual.”
“Then why were you in her bedroom after she died?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Caleb says you took the medication.”
“From the kitchen.”
I had not told him where Rosa said the pills were kept.
I stored that away.
Vanessa came in.
“Daniel, please.”
Lucas looked at her.
“Tell him.”
She hesitated.
Lucas repeated it.
“Tell him.”
Vanessa’s shoulders stiffened.
“Your mother had been getting worse.”
“How?”
“Confused. Suspicious.”
“About what?”
“Money. Medication. Me.”
Lucas said, “Eleanor accused Vanessa of stealing.”
I looked at my wife.
“Were you?”
“No.”
“What did she accuse you of stealing?”
Vanessa looked down.
“Company documents.”
My mother had always kept sensitive board materials in the house.
“Did you take them?”
“No.”
Lucas answered for her.
“Eleanor had become paranoid.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I asked, “Who decided she was paranoid?”
“Dr. Bennett had concerns.”
“I’ll ask him.”
Lucas glanced at Vanessa.
A small look.
Almost nothing.
I saw it.
At midnight, I called the funeral director and instructed him not to move forward with burial until I authorized it.
He sounded uncomfortable.
“Mr. Hartwell, arrangements were made by Mrs. Vanessa Hartwell under a pre-need authorization.”
“My mother had a pre-need contract?”
“Yes.”
“When was it signed?”
There was a pause.
“Three weeks ago.”
Mother had mocked preplanned funerals her entire life.
“Send me a copy.”
“I’ll have our office do that in the morning.”
“Tonight.”
Another pause.
“Yes, sir.”
I called the coroner’s after-hours line next.
I did not accuse anyone of murder.
I said I had discovered a recording in which my mother expressed concern about her medication and stated someone had tried to harm her.
That was enough.
The deputy coroner asked me not to disturb the body or discard anything else.
He said someone would contact me.
Vanessa sat at the kitchen island while I spoke.
When I hung up, she said, “You’re really doing this.”
“Yes.”
“She hated hospitals. She hated autopsies.”
“She hated liars more.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
This time they looked real.
“You think I killed her.”
“I think she believed you tried.”
Her face went white.
“What did the recorder say?”
I did not answer.
She pressed both hands against the counter.
“Daniel, your mother despised me from the first day we met.”
“She distrusted you.”
“She called me a beautiful liability.”
“That sounds like her.”
“She made me sign a prenup that treated me like a prostitute.”
“You had your own lawyer.”
“She humiliated me at every family dinner.”
“And?”
“And people who hate you interpret everything badly.”
I stepped closer.
“Did you give her blue pills?”
Vanessa looked at the floor.
“No.”
“Did you tell Rosa they came from Dr. Bennett?”
She took too long.
“Vanessa.”
“I may have told her that.”
“Did they?”
“I thought they did.”
“That’s not the same answer.”
She rubbed her arms.
“Lucas handled most of the medical logistics.”
I turned toward the library.
Her brother was gone.
“Where is he?”
“He left.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
I went to the front window.
His car was gone.
I called Caleb.
No answer.
Then Rosa.
No answer.
My stomach tightened.
I checked the security system on my phone.
The driveway camera showed Lucas leaving eleven minutes earlier.
Thirty seconds later, Caleb’s truck followed.
I enlarged the image.
Caleb was not driving.
Lucas was.
Someone sat in the passenger seat.
Caleb.
His head rested against the window.
“What the hell?”
Vanessa came beside me.
Her face changed when she saw the screen.
“Call him.”
“I am.”
Straight to voicemail.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Mr. Hartwell?”
A woman spoke quickly.
“This is Sergeant Reeves with Mount Pleasant Police. We found a truck registered to Caleb Foster abandoned near Shem Creek.”
I gripped the counter.
“Where is Caleb?”
“We don’t know.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
May you like
The sergeant continued.
“There’s blood on the passenger door.”
