Chapter 9 - THE DOCTOR WHO SIGNED MY FATHER'S DEATH CERTIFICATE
For three years, I'd thanked Dr. Henry Walsh for trying to save my father.
He'd attended the funeral.
He'd hugged Lily.
He'd told me Dad's cancer had simply been too aggressive.
Now I was staring at a photograph of him meeting Charles Mercer while Dad was still alive.
The investigation widened.
Dad's medical records were obtained through appropriate legal channels.
Independent oncologists reviewed them.
Nobody claimed immediately that he'd been murdered.
The truth was more complicated.
Dad did have pancreatic cancer.
It was advanced.
But several medication irregularities appeared during his final months.
Dosages changed without clear explanations.
Certain pain medications were substituted.
Appointments disappeared from the electronic record.
And one blood test suggesting Dad might have responded to another treatment had never been discussed with us.
I felt sick.
"They took time from him," Lily whispered.
We were sitting in her room at Harbor Ridge while Rebecca explained the preliminary findings.
"We don't know that yet," Rebecca said gently. "But there are enough irregularities to investigate."
I looked at Roman.
He had barely spoken.
Since finding Gabriel, something inside him had shifted.
He wasn't trying to protect the DeLuca name.
He was trying to uncover everything attached to it.
Even the ugly parts.
Especially the ugly parts.
"Where's Walsh?" Roman asked.
Rebecca answered.
"His attorney says he's willing to cooperate."
That surprised me.
Two days later, Walsh provided a statement.
Charles Mercer had pressured him.
Not to kill Dad.
To keep him frightened.
Mercer wanted Dad to believe any attempt to expose the financial network would jeopardize Lily's medical coverage and Claire's safety.
Walsh admitted altering records and withholding certain information.
His actions were now under investigation by medical and legal authorities.
I listened behind glass as he spoke.
Then he said something I hadn't expected.
"Thomas Bennett was trying to negotiate."
The investigator leaned forward.
"Negotiate what?"
"Protection for his daughters."
My chest tightened.
"With whom?"
"Salvatore DeLuca."
Roman went still beside me.
Walsh continued.
"Thomas believed Salvatore was becoming afraid of Mercer."
I looked toward Roman.
His father had been involved.
But perhaps the story wasn't as simple as monster and victim.
People rarely were.
Walsh explained that Salvatore planned to turn over evidence shortly before his own death four years earlier.
But he suffered a fatal heart attack before meeting investigators.
Charles Mercer then recovered several files from Salvatore's office.
Including documents belonging to Margaret DeLuca.
Roman whispered, "That's why Vivian's father knew about Claire."
Everything connected.
Dad.
Margaret.
Gabriel.
The fake debt.
My necklace.
Lily.
Christmas Eve.
Then the investigator asked Walsh one final question.
"Why was Claire Bennett specifically monitored after Thomas died?"
Walsh looked down.
"Because Thomas made her beneficiary of something Mercer wanted."
My pulse raced.
"What?"
Walsh swallowed.
"A twenty-five-percent ownership interest in Mercer-controlled waterfront property."
I stared.
That made no sense.
My father had been an ambulance driver.
Then Walsh explained.
The property hadn't originally belonged to Mercer.
It had belonged to Margaret DeLuca's charitable trust.
She transferred the interest to Dad as trustee to keep Mercer from stealing it.
Dad passed that trusteeship to me.
Without telling me.
I wasn't simply someone Mercer could intimidate.
May you like
Legally, I might be the person standing between him and property worth tens of millions.
And Vivian was eleven weeks away from marrying Roman, whose signature could have helped Mercer regain control.
Related Stories
