Chapter 5 - What Was Under the Roses

Police returned to the house with a warrant.

Daniel refused to go.

I went instead.

Mom loved roses.

She had planted them after Dad died.

Six perfect rows beside the back fence.

She told everyone gardening helped with grief.

The police dug beneath them.

The first object appeared less than a foot underground.

Dad’s silver watch.

It was wrapped in plastic.

Underneath it was a hospital medication vial.

Then another.

Then twelve more.

Detective Harper crouched beside the evidence.

Each vial carried a patient identification label.

Most names meant nothing to me.

One did.

Thomas Bennett.

My father.

The vial had contained digoxin.

Dad had taken digoxin for his heart.

But according to his medical records, he should have received a much lower dose.

The laboratory would need to confirm everything.

But Harper already knew what the discovery meant.

Someone had removed evidence from the hospital.

Someone had hidden it in our backyard.

Mom was brought back to the property in handcuffs.

She stared at the garden.

Then she stared at me.

Her expression changed.

No tears.

No confusion.

Just anger.

“You did this.”

I almost laughed.

“You buried Dad’s medication under your roses.”

“You always hated me.”

Daniel’s recordings echoed inside my head.

The lies.

The bruises.

The staged meltdowns.

“You tried to have Daniel institutionalized.”

“He needs professional care.”

“You terrorized him.”

“He attacks people.”

“Marcus attacked him.”

Mom’s face hardened.

“You don’t understand your brother.”

Something in me finally broke.

“I understand him better than you ever tried to.”

She looked toward the officers.

Then she lowered her voice.

“Emily, listen to me.”

“No.”

“Your father was dying.”

I stared at her.

She continued.

“He was in pain every day.”

“That doesn’t explain Daniel.”

Her silence answered me.

The trust.

It had always been the trust.

Detective Harper approached.

“We found something else.”

She showed me a photograph.

A small black key had been recovered from the same plastic bag as Dad’s watch.

It belonged to a bank deposit box.

The bank confirmed the box was rented under Dad’s name.

And according to their records, nobody had accessed it since three days before his death.

Dad had left another trail.

At the bank, the box contained legal documents.

One document changed everything.

Dad had amended Daniel’s trust shortly before his death.

Mom had never been eligible to receive control of it.

Not even if Daniel were institutionalized.

Control would transfer to an independent trustee.

The documents hidden in Daniel’s locked drawer were fake.

Mom and Marcus had been building their entire plan around a forged version.

But that raised a terrifying question.

Why would they still be trying to institutionalize Daniel if the real trust prevented them from taking the money?

Detective Harper answered that question when she opened another envelope from the deposit box.

Inside was a handwritten note.

If Rebecca believes the false trust is real, do not correct her.

I need to know how far she will go.

Dad had deliberately planted false financial information.

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He had been setting a trap.

And he died before he could close it.