Chapter 7 - The Recording
The cassette contained a voice.
A woman's voice.
Hannah recognized it immediately.
Her mother.
“If you're hearing this, I failed to protect Claire.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Rachel continued.
“Claire wasn't supposed to die that night.”
A pause.
“She was given the wrong medication.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Who?”
Rachel continued.
“Dr. Vane was ordered to change the chart.”
“By whom?”
The recording crackled.
Then a man's voice appeared.
Ethan recognized it.
His father.
“You will do as I say.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
His father continued.
“The Whitmore name cannot survive a scandal.”
Rachel whispered:
“She is a baby.”
“She is a liability.”
The recording ended.
Ethan stood motionless.
His father had sacrificed Claire to protect the company.
But there was more.
The next file revealed the reason.
A financial ledger.
Millions of dollars.
Illegal transfers.
Shell companies.
Medical payments.
Whitmore Confections had been laundering money through hospital contracts.
Claire had accidentally become connected to the investigation because Ethan's father feared that Ethan's wife would discover the truth.
Claire wasn't the target.
She was collateral.
Ethan slammed his fist onto the table.
“My father killed my daughter.”
Daniel placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Not exactly.”
Ethan looked at him.
“The medication error was intentional.”
Silence.
“But the person who administered it…”
Daniel paused.
“Was not your father.”
“Who?”
The answer was in the final file.
A photograph.
Richard Whitmore.
Ethan's uncle.
He had been the person in the medication room.
His father had covered it up.
Ethan finally understood.
His father had protected Richard.
Family over justice.
Company over Claire.
Money over truth.
Hannah sat quietly.
Then she noticed something.
A date.
The recording had been made one day before Claire died.
Her mother had known.
And yet she had waited.
“Why didn't she tell anyone?”
Ethan looked at her.
“She tried.”
“No.”
Hannah shook her head.
“There is something else.”
She pointed to the recording.
“My mother always wrote dates on everything.”
The date on the cassette was wrong.
It had been labeled December 23.
But Claire died December 24.
Hannah's eyes widened.
“This wasn't recorded before Claire died.”
Ethan stared.
“It was recorded after.”
The room went silent.
Someone had edited the evidence.
And someone had wanted Ethan to believe his father was the only villain.
Hannah whispered:
“Then who made the original recording?”
A phone rang.
Daniel answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He looked at Ethan.
“Dr. Vane is dead.”
Ethan stood.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“How?”
May you like
Daniel swallowed.
“Same medication used on Claire.”
