Chapter 12 - Olivia Asked to See Me
Nine months after the funeral, Olivia requested a meeting through counsel.
I refused.
She requested again.
Refused.
Then Daniel brought me a handwritten letter.
“You don’t have to read it.”
“What does it say?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re my lawyer.”
“I’m not opening privileged mail addressed to you because you’re curious.”
I hated his professionalism sometimes.
I put the letter in a drawer.
Three weeks later, prosecutors reached plea discussions with Dr. Pierce on professional violations unrelated to intentional poisoning.
Ultimately, there was insufficient evidence that he had knowingly participated in the murder plan.
His medical license faced serious disciplinary action because of the death certification failures.
That angered some people.
They wanted every adult near the coffin to be evil.
Reality was worse in another way.
Murder requires only a few malicious people.
Catastrophe can require many ordinary people making assumptions.
Pierce believed the cardiac narrative.
The medical examiner saw no obvious trauma.
The funeral home received paperwork.
Guests saw a grieving wife.
I had spent months reinforcing the same story myself.
“I’m stressed.”
“Mason says it’s nervous-system fatigue.”
“Olivia keeps track of my medication.”
Every sentence helped build my coffin.
Lena Crawford, the funeral director, testified that Olivia’s insistence on exact cremation timing bothered her.
“But you still moved the casket?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I had legal authorization documents.”
“Did you hear the tapping?”
“Yes.”
“What did you think?”
“Wood movement.”
“Why?”
Lena began crying.
“Because dead people don’t tap.”
That answer haunted me.
We all interpret impossible evidence through what we have already accepted as true.
I finally opened Olivia’s letter.
First sentence:
I loved you.
I stopped.
Put it back.
Two days later I tried again.
Second sentence:
I also hated the life I became beside you.
I stopped again.
There was probably truth in that.
My work consumed me.
I made decisions too quickly.
Money insulated me from consequences Olivia experienced differently.
None of it made poison reasonable.
Understanding your victim’s flaws is not a defense to murder.
I put the letter in Daniel’s office safe.
“Do whatever you want with it.”
“Destroy it?”
“No.”
“Keep it?”
“For now.”
May you like
I wasn’t ready for Olivia to have the last word.
I also wasn’t ready to pretend her words meant nothing.
