Chapter 5: The Name on the Other Side
Marcus didn't sleep that night.
He sat in the control room after the ambulance had taken his mother to Mercy General, after Dr.
Renner had followed in her own car, after Patricia had been quietly moved to a guest room on the second floor with a guard posted outside.
He sat in front of the monitors and he made a list.
The phone number on the back of the prescription had been disconnected.
That told him something.
Disposable.
Planned in advance.
This was not impulsive.
At eleven-forty, the front gate camera picked up a car slowing on the road outside.
It didn't stop.
It circled the block twice and left.
Marcus noted the plate number and forwarded it to the man he'd called earlier — a private investigator named Darnell Cole, who had been working quietly on this case since the first week Marcus had noticed the changes in his mother's condition.
At midnight, Darnell arrived through the side entrance.
He was a compact, methodical man in his late forties, carrying a slim laptop bag and the kind of expression that had long since stopped being surprised by anything.
He set up at the secondary console without being asked and opened three windows on the screen.
"The number on the prescription," Marcus said.
"Burner phone.
Purchased six weeks ago.
I already ran it."
"I know," Darnell said.
"But the purchase location is interesting." He turned the screen so Marcus could see.
"It was bought at a pharmacy two blocks from the office of a Dr.
Ellison Webb."
Marcus looked at the name.
"Who is he?"
"He was Eleanor's physician before Dr.
Renner.
Retired four years ago." Darnell pulled up a second window.
"He and Audrey have been in contact.
Regularly.
The last call between them was three days ago, forty-seven minutes long."
The room was very quiet.
"She brought him back in," Marcus said.
"She never let him go," Darnell said.
"Webb retired from practice, but he didn't retire from Audrey.
My guess is he's been advising her on dosage.
What's enough to keep Eleanor weak without triggering an obvious crisis." He paused.
"Until today."
"She got impatient," Marcus said.
"Or she had a deadline." Darnell opened the third window.
"Marcus.
I need you to look at this."
On the screen was a scanned document.
Legal formatting.
Marcus leaned forward.
It was a power of attorney amendment.
Dated eleven days ago.
It transferred full medical and financial decision-making authority over Eleanor Hale to Audrey Hale — effective upon Eleanor's physician certifying that Eleanor was no longer capable of managing her own affairs.
The certifying physician listed was Dr.
Ellison Webb.
Marcus straightened up slowly.
"She was going to have Webb declare my mother incompetent," he said.
"And once that was signed and filed, everything Eleanor owns — the house, the trust, the investment accounts — would fall under Audrey's control." Darnell closed the laptop.
"Eleanor would have had no legal standing to dispute anything.
She couldn't have fired a nurse, changed a doctor, or made a single decision about her own care."
Marcus turned and looked at the main monitor.
The bedroom was empty now, the medical bed stripped back, the room dark.
"How far along is the filing?"
"It was submitted to the probate court nine days ago.
It's waiting on Webb's certification letter." Darnell looked at him steadily.
"Which he was apparently planning to provide this week."
Marcus picked up his phone.
He dialed Dr.
Renner.
She answered on the second ring.
"I need you to formally document everything from today," he said.
"Dosage discrepancy, your findings, your conversation with Patricia.
Everything.
Tonight if possible."
"I've already started," she said.
"Marcus — the blood panel results will take until morning.
But I want you to be prepared.
If what I suspect is confirmed, this is not going to be a civil matter."
"I know," he said.
"Are you ready for that?"
He looked at the empty bedroom on the screen.
"I've been ready since the moment I saw what she did to her."
He ended the call.
Darnell was watching him.
"There's one more thing," Darnell said.
"The car that circled the block tonight.
I ran the plate."
He turned the laptop back around.
Marcus read the registered owner's name.
He read it again.
"Webb," he said.
Darnell nodded.
"He was watching the house.
Which means he already knows something went wrong today.
And if he knows—"
"He'll warn her," Marcus said.
"Or she'll warn him."
He was already standing, already moving toward the door.
May you like
"Where are you going?" Darnell called after him.
"To have a conversation with my wife," Marcus said, "before she has a chance to make another phone call."
