Chapter 5 - THE NURSE WHO WASN’T A NURSE
Lucas had been married for seven years.
I had never met his wife.
That should have seemed strange much earlier.
Vanessa always said Marjorie hated family events and preferred living quietly outside Columbia.
The truth was simpler.
Marjorie and Lucas had separated two years earlier.
She was not a nurse.
She was a real-estate closing coordinator and commissioned notary.
According to Vanessa, she had not been inside our house in years.
“Then why is her seal on Mother’s funeral power of attorney?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told me Mother hired a nurse named Marjorie.”
“I lied.”
The word hung between us.
Finally.
A clean admission.
“Why?”
Vanessa sat at the kitchen table.
Her hands shook.
“Lucas told me if anyone asked who handled your mother’s pills, I should say Marjorie.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop.”
“I’m telling you—”
“No. You have been telling me pieces since I walked into this house. My mother is dead. Caleb was assaulted. Your brother disappeared. If you lie to me again, I stop speaking to you except through lawyers.”
She stared at me.
Then nodded.
“There was no nurse.”
“Who managed Mother’s medication?”
“At first, Eleanor.”
“And later?”
“I did.”
The room became very still.
“Did you give her blue pills?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
I pulled out a chair and sat because my knees suddenly felt unreliable.
“What were they?”
“I thought they were lorazepam.”
“You thought?”
“Lucas gave them to me.”
“Your mother-in-law told me on a recorder that you tried to kill her.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
I waited.
Finally she said, “I never wanted her dead.”
“That is not the same as saying you didn’t drug her.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Her fingers twisted together.
“Because we needed her to sign the proxy.”
There it was.
The first major truth.
Not everything.
Enough.
Hartwell Maritime’s board had been divided over the Southampton merger.
Mother supported it.
Lucas opposed it because Hartwell would have to sell a minority interest in one of its Charleston terminal subsidiaries to finance the deal.
“What did Lucas have to do with the terminal?”
Vanessa looked toward the windows.
“He had investors.”
“What investors?”
“TideGate.”
I knew TideGate Partners.
A private investment company Lucas had started with two former classmates.
They had been trying to buy Hartwell’s Pier 9 repair facility for eighteen months.
Mother refused every offer.
“Lucas needed Pier 9.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“His fund borrowed against the acquisition.”
I stared at her.
“He borrowed money to buy something we had not agreed to sell?”
“He had a letter of intent.”
“Nonbinding.”
“Yes.”
“And Mother was going to cancel it.”
“Yes.”
The Southampton merger would have made Pier 9 essential to Hartwell.
Lucas’s acquisition would be dead.
“How much money was he exposed?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
“Eight or nine million personally.”
I sat back.
“And you?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“I invested.”
“How much?”
“Most of what I had before we married.”
“How much?”
“One point eight million.”
I had not known she had that much.
“Why hide it?”
“Your prenup required disclosure of separate investments connected to Hartwell competitors.”
“So you hid a conflict from me.”
“Yes.”
“And Mother found out.”
“Six weeks ago.”
“What did she do?”
“She told me I had ten days to disclose everything to you and resign from the Hartwell Foundation board.”
“You didn’t.”
“No.”
“Instead, you drugged her.”
Vanessa’s tears spilled.
I did not move.
“Lucas said if she became calmer, we could convince her the Pier 9 sale was temporary.”
“Blue pills.”
“He said they were low-dose anti-anxiety medication.”
“Prescription?”
“No.”
“Did you know that was illegal?”
“Yes.”
“Did you give them anyway?”
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Four.”
Mother’s words came back.
Vanessa tried to kill me.
“Did she ever lose consciousness?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Ten days ago.”
“What happened?”
“She became dizzy and fell in the bathroom.”
“The bruise on her jaw.”
Vanessa nodded.
I stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.
“You let me believe that was from the stroke.”
“I panicked.”
“You let Dr. Bennett believe it too.”
“Lucas told him.”
“And the proxy?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“After the fall, Eleanor was groggy. Lucas brought papers. She signed two pages.”
“Did she understand them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew she was drugged.”
“Yes.”
The answer was barely audible.
I walked to the sink.
Outside, a delivery truck moved along the street.
Somebody’s dog barked.
Ordinary Charleston morning.
Inside my kitchen, my marriage ended without anyone announcing it.
“Where is Lucas?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where would he go?”
“TideGate has an office downtown.”
“He won’t be there.”
“No.”
“Marjorie?”
“She moved to Greenville.”
I turned.
“Why use her notary seal?”
Vanessa looked confused.
“I didn’t know he did.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
I said nothing.
She leaned forward.
“Daniel, I helped him pressure Eleanor. I gave her pills. I lied to you. I let him use me because I was terrified of losing the money and terrified of telling you what I’d done.”
“You were terrified of losing money.”
“Yes.”
“At least say it correctly.”
She flinched.
“I did not kill her.”
I took Mother’s recorder from my pocket.
Vanessa stared at it.
“There are eleven files.”
Her face changed.
“How many did you hear?”
“One.”
I pressed the button.
File ten.
Static.
Then Mother’s voice.
“Thursday. Vanessa came in at nine fifteen with another blue tablet. I pretended to swallow it.”
Vanessa shut her eyes.
Mother continued.
“I hid it inside my napkin. If Daniel ever hears this, he needs to know something else.”
A chair scraped on the recording.
Mother lowered her voice.
“Vanessa is frightened of Lucas.”
My wife looked up.
The recording continued.
“I heard them arguing. She told him, ‘I won’t do anything else to her.’ He answered, ‘You already did enough.’”
Then another voice appeared.
Male.
Distant.
Lucas.
“You think you can back out now?”
Vanessa whispered on the recording.
“I’m telling Daniel.”
Mother’s recorder captured a hard impact.
Vanessa cried out.
May you like
Then Lucas said:
“You call your husband, and both of us go to prison.”
