Chapter 13 - Before Anna Died

Anna's video changed the investigation.

Detective Brooks reopened everything surrounding her death.

Anna had died from complications after a sudden cardiac event eight months after Lily was born.

At the time, doctors called it an undiagnosed arrhythmia.

Ethan had accepted that answer because grief made questions feel like betrayal.

Now questions were all he had.

Hospital records showed one strange detail.

Two weeks before Anna died, her medication list changed.

A mild anti-anxiety prescription appeared.

Prescriber: Dr. Howard Keller.

The same doctor who later forged records for Ethan and Lily.

Keller was questioned again.

This time he asked for a lawyer.

By midnight, prosecutors offered limited immunity for the truth.

He took it.

Keller admitted Daniel had paid him to issue prescriptions for Anna without proper evaluation.

"What medication?" Brooks asked.

Keller looked sick.

"A sedative. Low dose."

"Did it kill her?"

"I don't know. I swear I don't know."

Anna's toxicology report had not included a targeted screen for the drug.

Her preserved blood sample still existed.

The state lab tested it.

Forty-eight hours later, the result came back positive.

Higher than therapeutic level.

Ethan sat in Brooks's office holding the report.

"Are you saying Vivian killed my wife?"

"No. I'm saying someone gave Anna more of that medication than her chart supports. We don't know who."

Ethan thought of Anna's warning.

Vivian Hale.

Too many questions.

Then Dana found an archived visitor log from the Mercer Foundation office.

The day before Anna died, Vivian Hale had used a temporary access badge at headquarters.

She was there for seventy-three minutes.

Daniel Pike was there too.

So was Anna.

No cameras from that day survived.

Except one elevator backup stored off-site.

The footage showed Anna entering at 4:06 p.m.

Daniel entered at 4:11.

Vivian entered at 4:19.

At 5:02, Anna left alone.

She was unsteady.

At 5:07, Vivian stepped into the elevator with Daniel.

They were smiling.

Daniel leaned close and said something the microphone barely captured.

Dana cleaned the audio.

Five words emerged.

"Now we wait for tonight."

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Ethan stared at the screen.

Anna died before sunrise.