Chapter 6: What Audrey Said When the Door Closed
Audrey was in the east sitting room, still dressed, a glass of wine untouched on the table beside her.
She looked up when Marcus entered.
She did not look surprised.
"I wondered how long you'd take," she said.
Marcus closed the door behind him.
He did not sit down.
"Webb was outside tonight," he said.
"Circling the block.
Did you call him?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Audrey."
She picked up the wine glass.
Set it back down without drinking.
"You've built quite a case," she said.
"I can see that.
You're very thorough.
You always have been." Her voice was almost admiring.
"But you're missing something important."
"Tell me what I'm missing."
"Eleanor asked me to do it."
The room went very still.
Marcus looked at her.
"Say that again."
"Your mother." Audrey met his eyes without flinching.
"She has been in pain for months.
Real pain.
Not the managed kind.
The kind that doesn't respond to what Renner prescribes because Renner is cautious to the point of cruelty." She leaned forward slightly.
"Eleanor came to me.
She asked me to speak to someone who might actually help her.
Ellison Webb has known her for twenty years.
He understood what she needed."
"What she needed," Marcus repeated.
"To not suffer.
To have some peace." Audrey's voice softened.
"I know how this looks.
I know what you think you saw on that camera.
But I was helping her.
She asked me to help her."
"She was gasping," Marcus said.
"She was struggling to breathe."
"Because she panicked.
She always panics when she feels the pills going down.
You know that.
You've seen it before." Audrey stood.
"Marcus.
I love your mother.
Whatever problems exist between the two of us — and I know there are problems — I would never harm Eleanor."
"The power of attorney amendment," Marcus said.
Something moved across Audrey's face.
Quick.
Gone.
"That was Eleanor's idea as well.
She was worried about her affairs becoming complicated if her condition worsened.
She wanted someone she trusted to be able to act quickly."
"She wanted it to be you."
"She suggested it, yes."
"Then she'll be able to confirm that herself," Marcus said.
"Tomorrow morning.
At the hospital.
With Dr.
Renner present and a legal witness in the room."
Audrey was quiet for a moment.
"She's not well enough for that kind of conversation."
"She was well enough to ask you to manage her entire estate."
Audrey set her wine glass down.
When she looked up, the softness was gone.
"You're going to destroy this family," she said.
"Everything I have built — everything I have held together while you traveled and worked and stayed in that room staring at your screens — you are going to tear it apart because you saw thirty seconds of footage and decided you already knew the story."
"I saw four minutes and twelve seconds," Marcus said.
"I have the full timestamp."
Audrey's mouth closed.
"And I have the prescription.
And the note on the back of it.
And Darnell has the phone records." He moved toward the door.
"And tomorrow morning, when my mother is stronger, I am going to sit beside her bed and let her tell me, in her own words, what she asked for and what she didn't."
He opened the door.
"If your version is true," he said, "she'll confirm it.
And I will owe you an apology." He paused in the doorway.
"But if she tells me something different, Audrey — there is no version of this where you walk away."
He left her standing in the sitting room, the untouched wine going warm beside her.
May you like
Behind him, he heard her exhale — slow, controlled, deliberate.
And then he heard her pick up her phone.
