Chapter 14 - What Killed My Father
Police arrested Gavin at the gate.
He didn’t resist.
That frightened me more than if he had run.
He wanted to talk.
His deal was simple: protection and a reduced sentence in exchange for information on Mother.
Brooks made no promises.
Gavin talked anyway.
“Thomas didn’t trust Eleanor near the end,” he said. “He had food brought separately. Changed medication schedules. Locked his study.”
I felt cold all over.
“My father died of pancreatic cancer.”
“He had pancreatic cancer,” Gavin said. “That doesn’t mean every bad night came from the cancer.”
Brooks leaned forward. “What are you alleging?”
“I’m saying Mrs. Reed sometimes changed his medication.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Changed how?”
“I never saw the bottle. I saw her take pills from one container and put them into another.”
“Did she kill him?”
“I don’t know.”
I stood. “Then don’t play games with me.”
Gavin looked at me calmly. “Your father thought she might be trying to keep him confused.”
That was different.
Still horrifying.
But different.
Brooks asked, “Why?”
“So he couldn’t sign removal documents. So he couldn’t meet auditors alone. So she could tell everyone he was declining.”
I remembered Dad’s last month. The slurred afternoons. The strange gaps in memory. The way Mother answered questions for him.
I had believed he was dying.
Maybe he was also being controlled.
Gavin slid the envelope forward.
Inside was a storage-unit receipt and a handwritten map.
“Eleanor keeps emergency files there,” he said. “Cash too.”
“Where is she?”
“Not at the unit.”
“Then where?”
He leaned back.
“She has a cottage near Cape Mercer under a company name.”
Brooks said, “Address?”
“I’ll give it to you.”
“Why now?”
For the first time, Gavin looked nervous.
“Because Eleanor called me this afternoon.”
“What did she say?”
May you like
He looked at me.
“She said if she goes down, she’s taking Daniel’s wife with her.”
