Chapter 8: The Lobby
Audrey was standing at the reception desk in a charcoal wrap dress, her voice low and pleasant, her posture perfectly composed.
She had a leather folder under one arm.
She was explaining, with great patience, that she was Eleanor Hale's authorized medical proxy and that she needed to be directed to her room immediately.
The receptionist was nodding and reaching for the phone when Marcus stepped out of the elevator.
Audrey saw him before he reached her.
Her chin lifted.
"Marcus.
I came as soon as I heard she'd been admitted.
I want to see her."
"She doesn't want to see you," Marcus said.
"I'm her proxy.
I have legal standing—"
"You have a document that was obtained through deception and has not been legally certified." He stopped two feet from her.
"Carol Marsh filed a formal objection with the probate court forty minutes ago.
The emergency certification hearing Webb's attorney requested has been suspended pending review." He paused.
"You have no legal standing here.
Not today."
Audrey's pleasant expression held for one more second.
Then it didn't.
"You have no idea what you're doing," she said, her voice dropping.
"This family — everything your mother built — it needs someone to manage it.
Eleanor can't.
She hasn't been able to for over a year.
I have been the one holding it together.
Every account, every property, every decision.
While you sat in your control room watching screens."
"You were holding it together for yourself," Marcus said.
"I was protecting it."
"From who?"
"From her making decisions she's no longer capable of making.
From well-meaning people like Renner who would rather keep her comfortable than keep her functional." Audrey's voice was still controlled, but something underneath it had started to fracture.
"I did what needed to be done.
I made hard choices.
And now you're standing here treating me like a criminal because I loved your mother enough to do the things you couldn't bring yourself to do."
"You pinned her jaw open and forced pills down her throat," Marcus said.
"I watched it happen.
I have the footage."
The lobby was quiet.
The receptionist had gone very still.
Two nurses at the far desk had stopped moving.
Audrey looked around.
Registered the audience.
Her jaw tightened.
"That is not what happened," she said, her voice lower now.
"The blood panel came back this morning," Marcus said.
"She had three times the prescribed level of her sedative in her system.
And a second compound that Dr.
Renner did not prescribe and has never authorized." He held her gaze.
"Webb prescribed it.
You administered it.
And there is footage of you doing it."
Audrey said nothing.
"The police have been contacted," Marcus said.
"Detective Okafor is expecting a call from me in the next hour.
I wanted to speak to you first.
To give you the chance to tell me if there is anything — anything — that I have wrong."
Audrey looked at him for a long moment.
"You'll regret this," she said quietly.
"Tell me what I have wrong," he said again.
She picked up her leather folder from the desk.
She straightened her dress.
"I want my attorney," she said.
"That's the second honest thing you've said to me in two days," Marcus replied.
He stepped aside.
She walked past him toward the exit, her heels precise and even on the lobby floor.
At the door she stopped, one hand on the glass.
"I never wanted her to suffer," Audrey said, without turning around.
"Whatever you think of me — I want you to know that."
Marcus watched her push through the door and walk out into the grey morning light.
May you like
He stood there for a moment.
Then he took out his phone and called Detective Okafor.
