Chapter 4: What Diane Signed
Noah slammed the laptop shut.
“That recording has been altered.”
Ben opened it again.
“I copied the original files.”
“Where?”
“You don’t get to know.”
Noah seized the memory card and snapped it between his fingers.
Diane flinched, but Ben didn’t.
“That was a copy too,” he said.
Noah’s face changed.
I pressed both hands against the table.
“What was in my cup?”
“Nothing,” Noah said.
“You were tired.”
“Then why did you say I wouldn’t remember?”
“It was a joke.”
“Minutes before an accident?”
“You’re hearing what Ben wants you to hear.”
Ben stepped toward him.
“You moved her into the driver’s seat.”
“Prove it.”
The words fell calmly, almost confidently.
I looked at Diane.
“What did you see?”
She sank into a chair.
“Mom.”
“I arrived after the ambulance,” she said.
“Noah told me you had been driving.”
“That’s what he told everyone.”
“He said you might go to prison.
He said Ben would lose his mother.”
Noah leaned over her.
“Don’t rewrite this.”
Diane lifted her face.
“You took me to Mr.
Cole’s office three days later.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who is Mr.
Cole?”
“A solicitor,” she said.
“Noah had a statement prepared.
It said you called me before the accident and admitted you’d been drinking.”
“I never called you.”
“I know.”
The room became silent except for the hum of the refrigerator.
“You signed it?” I asked.
Tears slid down her cheeks.
“Yes.”
I backed into the counter.
“I told you I was afraid I was losing my memory.
I trusted you with the one thing that terrified me, and you used it to make his lie believable.”
“Noah said the cyclist’s family would take everything.”
“So you gave him me instead?”
Diane covered her mouth.
Noah stepped closer.
“Your mother made a difficult choice.”
“No.
She made your choice.”
He lowered his voice.
“Be careful, Rachel.
You’re upset, and you’ve already destroyed something tonight.”
I glanced at the broken plate in the sink.
“That’s why you let me do it,” I said.
“You wanted witnesses.”
“I want you to get help.”
“You want people to think I’m unstable.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Ben turned the laptop toward me.
“There’s more.
I found documents in Dad’s desk.”
Noah moved, but Ben lifted the computer beyond his reach.
“What documents?” I asked.
“A medical letter and a power of attorney.”
“I never signed a power of attorney.”
Noah folded his arms.
“You signed it at the hospital.”
“I could barely read my own name.”
“You understood perfectly.”
Diane stood.
“She was medicated.”
“You were there,” Noah snapped.
“You witnessed it.”
My mother looked at me, and the last piece settled into place.
“That’s where he took you,” I said.
“Not to the solicitor.
To the hospital.”
Diane nodded.
My phone chimed on the counter.
An email from Bell & Mason, my father’s company, filled the screen.
Due to concerns regarding your capacity, the board has voted to suspend your authority with immediate effect.
May you like
Noah glanced at the message and buttoned his jacket.
“Tomorrow morning,” he said, “everything your father left you becomes mine.”
