“It’s all right, Mom. Tomorrow.”
When they left, I heard them in the hall.
“She’s getting difficult,” Mark growled. “Call Frank. Have him come tonight. I’m tired of waiting.”
My heart pounded.
They were going to try to kill me tonight.
I immediately called Sarah.
“I need you to come now—with police if possible. They are going to try something tonight.”
“Calm down, Ms. Helen,” Sarah said. “I already anticipated this. I’ve been working with a private detective. We’ve been monitoring Frank, the hospital employee. We have recordings of Mark offering him money. He’ll be arrested today.”
“Today?”
“In two hours.”
“And when they do, Mark will get very nervous,” Sarah continued. “That’s when they make mistakes. That’s when we get more evidence.”
I hung up, feeling a mix of fear and satisfaction. The trap was closing, but something was still missing. I still needed more to completely destroy them.
That afternoon, Dr. Henry came to do a routine checkup. In front of Mark, his diagnosis was devastating.
“Ms. Helen is deteriorating rapidly. Her vital signs are weak. I estimate she has a maximum of three days left.”
Mark tried to look sad, but I saw the relief on his face.
Three days, he thought.
Three days until the end of his world, I thought.
At six in the evening, my phone vibrated with news that filled me with satisfaction. Sarah sent me a message.
Frank arrested. He confessed everything. Mentioned Mark’s name. The police want to talk to your son.
I smiled from my bed. The first domino had just fallen.
An hour later, two detectives knocked on my door. From my room, through the cameras, I watched Mark open it with a confident expression that turned to panic when he saw the badges.
“Mark Harrison?” one of the detectives asked.
“Yes, that’s me. What’s going on?”
“We need to ask you some questions about Frank Herrera. Do you know him?”
I saw the color drain from Mark’s face.
“Frank who? No, that name doesn’t sound familiar.”
“That’s strange,” the detective said. “He says you offered him fifty thousand dollars to accelerate the death of your mother, who is ill in this house.”
Rachel appeared behind Mark, her eyes wide.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “My husband would never do something like that.”
“We have recordings,” the detective replied. “Frank was smarter than your husband thought.”
Mark stammered.
“That’s a lie. Frank is lying. He probably wants money. He’s making things up.”
“So you completely deny knowing him?”
“Yes. I completely deny it.”
The detective nodded slowly.
“Interesting, because we have phone records showing seventeen calls between your number and Frank’s in the last two weeks. Also, some quite explicit text messages.”
Mark was sweating.
“I want to speak to an attorney.”
“You can do that,” the detective said, “but know that we are investigating attempted murder. If you have anything to tell us, now is the time.”
“I have nothing to say without my attorney.”
The detectives left, but they left a card.
“We’ll be in touch, Mr. Harrison. Detective Tavier. Don’t leave the state.”
As soon as the door closed, Mark exploded.
“Damn Frank. That idiot betrayed me.”
Rachel paced back and forth, hysterical.
“They’re going to arrest us, Mark. They’re going to put us in jail. What are we going to do?”
“Calm down,” Mark snapped. “They don’t have real evidence—just the words of a desperate orderly. Any good attorney can destroy that in court.”
“What if your mother finds out?”
Mark looked thoughtful.
“It doesn’t matter. She only has two or three days left anyway. By the time this goes to trial, she’ll be dead, and we’ll have the money to pay the best attorneys in the country.”
“What if she changes her will before she dies?”
“She can’t. She’s too weak. Besides, she doesn’t know anything that’s going on.”
How wrong my son was.
Leave a Comment