Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO CALLED EVELYN'S WORDS CONFUSION
Dr. Edwin Marsh arrived at 2:15.
Sadie knew because he entered Evelyn’s room without knocking.
Sixty.
Silver hair.
Soft voice.
Expensive watch.
The kind of doctor rich families paid not only for medicine but discretion.
He smiled at Sadie.
“You must be the new helper.”
“Caregiver.”
“Temporary caregiver.”
He opened Evelyn’s chart.
Sadie noticed immediately that he did not address the patient.
“Mrs. Cain had chest pressure this morning.”
Marsh’s smile disappeared.
“According to whom?”
“Mrs. Cain.”
“She doesn’t speak.”
“She communicates.”
His eyes lifted.
“With you?”
“Yes.”
Marsh closed the chart.
“Mrs. Cain has expressive aphasia with progressive cognitive disturbance.”
Sadie looked at Evelyn.
The old woman looked furious.
“What disturbance?”
“Agitation. Repetitive hand movements. Delusional fixation.”
Sadie almost laughed.
“She told me exactly where her medication was.”
“Coincidence.”
“She told me it had been moved.”
“Staff frequently rearrange the room.”
“She told me her chest hurt.”
Marsh’s jaw tightened.
“Miss Cole, your role is comfort care.”
“My role is keeping her alive.”
The room changed.
Marsh turned toward Evelyn.
For the first time, he looked directly at her.
Something passed between them.
Recognition.
History.
Fear?
Sadie could not tell.
Then Marsh checked Evelyn’s pulse.
Blood pressure.
Listened to her heart.
Clinically, he behaved perfectly.
That made Sadie distrust him more.
He prescribed no new medication.
Then he said:
“I recommend limiting stimulation.”
Sadie asked:
“Meaning?”
“No complicated communication attempts.”
Evelyn’s eyes flashed.
Marsh continued:
“They increase her distress.”
Sadie looked at him.
“Or yours?”
Silence.
The doctor packed his bag.
Before leaving, he stopped beside Sadie.
“You have a child.”
Her body went cold.
“How do you know?”
“This household conducts thorough screening.”
The same explanation Ronan had given without giving.
Marsh smiled.
“Keep your position simple, Miss Cole. Raven Hill rewards people who understand boundaries.”
Then he left.
Evelyn’s hands moved immediately.
He lies.
Sadie signed:
About what?
Everything.
Then:
My mind is not broken.
“I know.”
Sadie signed the words.
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
Four years.
Four years of people speaking around her while she understood.
Four years of being treated like furniture.
Then Evelyn signed:
Declan knew.
“Knew what?”
That Marsh was changing my medicine.
Sadie froze.
What medicine?
Evelyn touched her throat.
Then her temple.
Sadie understood.
Medication after the stroke.
Sedatives.
Neurological drugs.
Perhaps not enough to make her mute.
Enough to keep her weak?
Then Evelyn gave Sadie a sequence she had not seen before.
Three taps on chest.
Falcon.
Broken circle.
Ashport Bay.
Sadie shook her head.
I don’t understand.
Evelyn pointed toward the nightstand.
Bottom drawer.
Inside was an old photograph.
Three young men stood beside a fishing boat.
Ronan.
Declan.
And Edwin Marsh.
Much younger.
All three wore matching falcon pins.
On the back, someone had written:
THE THREE BROTHERS WHO WEREN'T BROTHERS.
Sadie stared.
May you like
Marsh was the third falcon.
And if Declan had trusted him once, something terrible had happened between then and the day he died.
