Chapter 4 - The Ambulance
Daniel entered the private conference room wearing the navy suit I had bought him for Christmas.
Dr. Shaw followed carrying a medical bag.
Two paramedics waited in the hallway.
Daniel’s expression softened the moment he saw me.
It was the face he used for donors, reporters, and grieving employees.
“Claire, thank God.”
I remained seated.
“How did you know I was here?”
“We’ve been looking everywhere.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Dr. Shaw stepped forward.
“Claire, your husband is concerned about your emotional state.”
“My emotional state is excellent.”
“You left home during a severe episode.”
“I was slapped and ordered out.”
Daniel shook his head sadly.
“No one slapped you.”
I raised my bandaged hand.
“Your ring cut you when you became agitated,” he said.
Nora stood.
“You need to leave.”
Daniel looked at her as though he had only just noticed she was present.
“This is a family medical matter.”
“It became a legal matter when you forged my client’s signature.”
His expression flickered.
Only for a second.
Then the worried husband returned.
“Claire has been confused for weeks.”
Dr. Shaw removed a document from his bag.
It authorized an emergency psychiatric evaluation.
The signature belonged to a judge.
Nora examined it.
“This order permits an evaluation if she presents an immediate danger to herself or others.”
Daniel turned toward the paramedics.
“She threatened my mother last night.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“She said she would destroy us.”
“I said I would testify in court.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“You see how she twists things?”
The bank’s legal counsel entered with two security officers.
He informed Daniel that the bank had not observed any dangerous behavior.
Dr. Shaw insisted that professional judgment overruled the opinion of bank employees.
I watched them argue.
Then I remembered my father’s flash drive.
The Insurance folder.
The ten-million-dollar policy.
The psychiatric petition.
The ambulance.
They needed me declared incompetent.
But what if incompetence was only the first step?
I looked directly at Dr. Shaw.
“What medication were you planning to give me?”
He stiffened.
“Whatever was medically necessary.”
“Name it.”
“That depends on the evaluation.”
“Did Daniel tell you I have a heart condition?”
Daniel interrupted.
“That’s enough.”
I rose slowly.
“No, Daniel.”
“It isn’t.”
My father had died of a heart attack.
I had inherited a mild rhythm disorder that had never required treatment.
Certain sedatives could worsen it.
Daniel knew that.
Dr. Shaw knew it too.
Nora moved between me and the door.
The bank’s attorney instructed the paramedics that no transport would occur without evidence of immediate danger.
Daniel’s performance began to crack.
“You’re making a serious mistake,” he told me.
“I could say the same thing.”
His gaze dropped to the steel case containing the trust documents.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“What’s in the case?”
“Something you tried to steal on Thursday.”
His face lost color.
Nora signaled to security.
They escorted Daniel and Dr. Shaw from the building.
Before the door closed, Daniel looked back at me.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
I held his gaze.
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
When they were gone, Mr. Hall approached us.
“There’s something else you should know.”
He placed a security log on the table.
The person who had attempted to access my box had not been Daniel.
The camera showed a woman in a gray coat and dark glasses.
Nora enlarged the image.
May you like
It was Vanessa Reed.
In her hand was my passport.
