Chapter 12: The Woman Who Was Supposed to Die
I read the note three times before I could accept what it meant.
The accident that had left Helen with severe neurological injuries had not been intended for her.
It had been meant for Margaret.
My mother had spent years protecting me from the Hayes family, and someone had tried to kill her before she could expose them.
But Helen had been the one who survived the crash.
I called Detective Lawson back.
“Who wrote the note?””
“We're having it examined. It was found in a locked drawer in Richard Hayes's office.””
“Does it mention a date?””
“Yes. The day of Helen's accident.””
I looked toward Helen's bed.
She was watching me, her hands folded tightly in her lap.
“Was Richard driving the car?”” I asked.
“We don't know yet.””
“Then how can you say the accident was meant for my mother?””
“Because the note refers to a meeting between Margaret and an unidentified driver. We're also reviewing financial records that suggest someone paid for the vehicle involved.””
I closed my eyes.
“Send me a copy.””
“We will. But I need you to understand that the investigation is ongoing. We have evidence of possible fraud, document tampering, and suspicious circumstances surrounding Margaret's death. We don't yet have enough to prove who ordered the accident.””
“Then keep looking.””
“We are.””
I ended the call.
Helen reached for my hand.
“Emily, what happened?””
I sat beside her.
“Someone tried to kill Margaret.””
Helen closed her eyes.
For a moment, she looked as though she might collapse.
“I should have known,” she whispered.
“You couldn't have known.””
“I promised her I would keep you safe.””
“You were in a coma.””
She shook her head.
“I remember the night before the accident. Margaret came to see me. She told me she had found evidence that Richard was planning to transfer the foundation's research rights to a private company.””
“Did she tell you which company?””
Helen hesitated.
“Northstar Biologics.””
The name meant nothing to me at first.
Then I remembered the supplemental agreement.
One of the companies listed in the attachments was Northstar Biologics, a subsidiary of the Hayes family's investment group.
I pulled out my phone and searched the name.
The company had been established twenty-eight years earlier, shortly before Michael's supposed death. It specialized in neurological treatments and owned several patents originally developed by the Hayes Foundation.
According to its website, the company had recently announced a major breakthrough in experimental treatment for a degenerative disease.
I looked at Helen.
“Is this the research your father developed?””
She nodded.
“Yes. The treatment was supposed to be affordable. Michael wanted to make it available to patients regardless of income.””
“And Richard turned it into a private business.””
“That's what Margaret believed.””
I thought about the original trust agreement.
The billions in assets.
The attempts to obtain my signature.
The threats against Helen.
Everything was connected to a discovery that had been stolen from the people who created it.
“Why did Richard need me to sign the agreement now?”” I asked.
Helen took a shaky breath.
“Because Northstar is preparing to sell its controlling interest to a pharmaceutical conglomerate. If the sale goes through, the original trust could challenge the patents and claim the research rights.””
I stared at her.
“How much money are we talking about?””
“Billions.””
“And if I sign the supplemental agreement?””
“You surrender your right to challenge the sale.””
I felt anger rise inside me.
“They wanted me to give away my inheritance on my wedding day.””
“Yes.””
“And Ryan knew?””
Helen looked down.
“I don't know what Ryan knew about the sale. But I know he visited me several times before the accident.””
I turned sharply.
“What?””
“He asked questions about the trust. He wanted to know whether Margaret had left any documents with me.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I was afraid he would find you.””
I stood and paced the room.
Ryan had visited Helen before the accident.
He had known about the trust.
He had known about the research.
And he had concealed what happened to Margaret.
I couldn't decide whether he had been a frightened young man trapped by his family or an active participant in a conspiracy that had lasted decades.
Perhaps he had been both.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Ryan.
I need to see you. I have proof that my father ordered the accident.
I stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
Please meet me at the old laboratory. There is something I should have told you years ago.
I showed the messages to Claire, who had just entered the room.
“Absolutely not,” she said.
“I know.””
“Emily, this is how people disappear in crime dramas.””
“I'm not going alone.””
“You're not going at all until the police approve it.””
I looked at Helen.
“Do you know the old laboratory?””
She nodded slowly.
“It's where Michael was supposed to have died.””
“Is there anything there that could prove what happened?””
Helen's expression changed.
“Under the eastern stairwell, there was a maintenance room. Michael kept copies of his research there because he didn't trust the foundation's board.””
“Would those records still exist?””
“I don't know.””
I called Detective Lawson and told him about Ryan's messages.
He instructed me not to meet Ryan alone and arranged for officers to accompany us to the laboratory.
Two hours later, we arrived at the abandoned building.
The structure stood behind a rusted fence, its windows boarded up and its brick walls blackened by the old fire. Weeds had grown through cracks in the parking lot. A faded sign bearing the foundation's original name hung crookedly above the entrance.
Ryan was waiting near the gate.
He looked exhausted.
His tuxedo had been replaced by jeans and a dark sweater. His hair was uncombed, and his eyes were bloodshot.
When he saw me, he took a step forward.
I held up my hand.
“Stay there.””
He stopped.
“Thank you for coming.””
“I'm here because you said you had evidence.””
“I do.””
He reached into his jacket and produced a small envelope.
Inside were photographs of the laboratory before the fire, copies of financial transactions, and a handwritten statement signed by Richard Hayes.
The statement acknowledged that Richard had arranged for the research records to be transferred to Northstar Biologics without the consent of the foundation's original beneficiaries.
I examined the signature.
“Where did you get this?””
“My father kept it in his private safe.””
“Why?””
“Because he believed it gave him leverage over the people who helped him.””
“Who else helped him?””
Ryan hesitated.
“My mother.””
I stared at him.
“Patricia?””
He nodded.
“She knew about the research transfers. She helped arrange the acquisition of the original patents. She also knew Michael had survived the fire.””
My stomach tightened.
“And the accident?””
Ryan looked down.
“I found a letter in my father's office. It instructed a private investigator to make sure Margaret never reached the lawyer she was meeting that night.””
“Who wrote it?””
“My father.””
“Then why did Helen have the accident?””
Ryan's face twisted.
“Because the investigator followed the wrong car.””
For a moment, the world seemed to stop.
I heard my own voice from somewhere far away.
“Your father tried to kill my mother, and he hit Helen instead?””
Ryan nodded.
“He thought Margaret was driving. Helen had borrowed her car that night.””
I pressed my hand against my mouth.
“And you knew this?””
“I found out three months ago.””
“Three months ago?””
“I was trying to get the evidence before he destroyed it.””
“You knew my mother might have been murdered, and you let me plan a wedding?””
“I was afraid you'd be in danger.””
“You were afraid you'd lose control of the situation!””
He flinched.
“Maybe I was.””
His honesty did nothing to soften the blow.
I looked at the envelope.
“Why tell me now?””
“Because my father has disappeared. Patricia has been arrested. The police are searching the foundation's offices. I don't have any reason to keep protecting them anymore.””
I stared at him.
“You could have told me before.””
“Yes.””
“You could have told me when we met.””
“Yes.””
“You could have told me the day you proposed.””
“Yes.””
Each answer seemed to cost him something.
But none of them gave me back the years I'd lost.
A detective approached us.
“Mr. Hayes, we need you to come with us.””
Ryan nodded.
“Of course.””
He turned to me.
“Emily, there's one last thing.””
I didn't answer.
He swallowed.
“The night Margaret died, I didn't just leave her alone with my father. I took something from her room.””
My stomach tightened.
“What?””
“The original trust agreement.””
I stared at him.
“Where is it?””
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded document.
“I kept it because I knew my father would destroy it.””
I took the paper.
It was the original agreement, bearing my grandfather's signature and the clause transferring the controlling rights to me.
But there was something else.
A handwritten note in the margin.
The writing was my mother's.
If Emily ever has to choose between the foundation and her family, she must know that the truth matters more than either.
I read the sentence again.
Then I looked at Ryan.
“Why didn't you give this to the police?””
“Because I was waiting until I could prove my father's role in the accident.””
“And you couldn't trust me with it?””
He looked as though he wanted to reach for me, but he kept his hands at his sides.
“No. I couldn't trust myself to lose you.””
I felt tears sting my eyes.
“You lost me when you decided I didn't deserve the truth.””
The detective escorted him toward the waiting car.
I stood beside the gate, holding the document my mother had risked everything to protect.
For the first time, I had proof of the original trust.
I had evidence connecting Richard to the attempted murder.
And I had a path toward restoring the research to the people who needed it.
But as I turned to leave, an officer approached with a phone in his hand.
“Ms. Carter, we recovered this from a vehicle registered to Richard Hayes.””
The screen showed a video file dated three years earlier.
The night my mother died.
I pressed play.
The image was grainy, but I recognized the hospital corridor immediately.
Richard stood outside Margaret's room.
Patricia was beside him.
Then the door opened.
A third person stepped into view.
Someone I had not expected to see.
Someone who had spent the entire day helping me uncover the truth.
Olivia.
The video showed her entering the room with a small medical bag.
Then Richard handed her a folded piece of paper.
She looked at it, nodded, and walked inside.
The door closed behind her.
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
My sister had told me she'd arrived after Ryan called her.
She had told me she saw Patricia near our mother's bed.
But the footage showed Olivia entering the room before Margaret's final medical crisis.
And she had been carrying something.
I looked up at the officer.
“Where did you get this?””
“From Richard's private security system. There's another file.””
He hesitated.
“It shows what happened inside the room.””
I felt my heart pounding.
“Play it.””
The officer opened the second video.
And as the screen filled with the image of my mother's hospital bed, I realized the truth might be far worse than anything Olivia had confessed.
Because the woman standing beside Margaret wasn't Patricia.
May you like
It was Olivia.
And in her hand was a syringe.
