Chapter 8 - Florence’s Last Suspicion
Ethan moved toward Margaret.
“What did you do?”
“I did nothing.”
Mr. Hale raised one hand.
“No accusations without evidence.”
“You just said someone interfered with her medication.”
“I said Florence suspected it.”
Margaret’s eyes filled with furious tears.
“She was dying. Everyone knew that.”
Florence had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure six months after the wedding.
Her condition had stabilized with medication.
Then, during the final three weeks, she declined rapidly.
Ethan had blamed the disease.
Margaret had blamed Ethan.
Now Mr. Hale revealed something neither had discussed.
“Florence noticed several tablets looked different from the prescriptions she normally received.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?” Ethan asked.
“She did not know whom to trust.”
The answer cut through him.
Despite signing the agreement, despite caring for her through illness, Ethan’s first lie had never fully disappeared.
Margaret pointed at him.
“He managed her medication.”
“So did you,” Mr. Hale replied.
“I helped my aunt.”
“You also argued with her about the foundation.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
Florence had decided to leave most of her estate to a scholarship foundation.
Margaret expected the family to inherit millions.
She called Florence confused.
She threatened to challenge the will.
Ethan remembered finding Margaret in Florence’s bedroom two weeks before her death.
She claimed she was organizing drawers.
He had believed her.
“What is in the safe-deposit box?” Ethan asked.
“Medication samples. A copy of Florence’s private diary. Security footage from the hallway outside her bedroom.”
Margaret backed away.
“There were no cameras in that house.”
“Not visible ones.”
The relatives began moving away from her.
Margaret looked at each of them.
“This is insane. He married her for money, and suddenly I’m the criminal?”
Mr. Hale remained calm.
“Florence did not know who was responsible. That is why she preserved the evidence rather than naming anyone.”
Ethan closed his hand around the brass key.
“Where is the box?”
“A bank three blocks from here.”
Margaret grabbed her handbag.
“I’m leaving.”
Officer Daniel Price, an off-duty police officer who had attended the funeral as a family friend, stepped away from the wall.
“You’re free to leave,” he said. “But destroying or removing evidence would create a different problem.”
Margaret stopped.
She looked toward the shoebox.
Then toward Florence’s wedding portrait.
May you like
And Ethan understood that she knew exactly what the safe-deposit box contained.
👉 Margaret’s attempt to flee convinced Ethan that Florence’s suspicions were not merely fear.
