Chapter 3 - GARETH’S FIRST LIE COLLAPSED
Gareth looked at Tessa as if he had never seen her before.
“That isn’t possible.”
Tessa remained composed.
“It’s a blurry video.”
“It’s your bag,” Irene said.
“Thousands of women own that bag.”
“Do thousands of them also wear your bracelet?”
The hospital-security still showed a thin diamond bracelet with a distinctive emerald clasp.
Bernard had complimented it at dinner.
Tessa’s wrist was bare now.
Gareth stepped toward her.
“Did you pick up medication for my father?”
Tessa’s eyes hardened.
“Not here.”
Wrong answer.
Gareth’s face lost color.
“Tessa.”
She exhaled.
“Yes.”
Irene’s anger became strangely quiet.
“Why?”
“Because Gareth asked me to.”
Gareth turned.
“What?”
“I did not.”
Tessa laughed once.
“You wanted the capacity evaluation accelerated.”
“I wanted Dad examined.”
“You said the doctor needed to see the episodes you described.”
Gareth’s voice dropped.
“I never told you to medicate him.”
“No?”
“No.”
Irene watched both of them.
The affair was real.
The effort to gain control over Bernard’s assets was real.
But something had split inside their version of the plan.
Gareth had apparently wanted his father declared incompetent.
Tessa had decided to manufacture the evidence physically.
Neither was innocent.
Only one might have crossed the line into medical harm.
Then Dr. Malcolm Vey became unreachable.
His office had closed early.
His cell went to voicemail.
Julian Reyes arrived carrying the capacity documents.
He looked at Gareth.
“Your attorney sent these for filing tomorrow.”
Gareth’s expression changed.
“My attorney?”
“Family counsel.”
Julian placed the petition on the counter.
Petitioner:
GARETH LANGSTON.
Supporting medical observer:
IRENE LANGSTON, RN.
Irene looked at Gareth.
“You used my name.”
“I didn’t draft that.”
“But you authorized the petition?”
Silence.
“Gareth.”
“Yes.”
There it was.
Not Tessa’s manipulation.
Not a misunderstanding.
His choice.
“I needed temporary control to stop Dad from destroying the company.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
“Bernard owns the deciding shares.”
“He’s seventy-eight and irrational.”
Irene almost laughed.
“He beat you at chess yesterday.”
“That doesn’t mean he understands a three-billion-dollar transaction.”
“And forging nursing notes helps him understand?”
“I didn’t forge them.”
“But you intended to use them.”
Gareth did not answer.
That was enough.
Then the emergency physician returned.
“Mr. Bernard Langston is awake.”
Irene’s shoulders dropped with relief.
“Can I see him?”
The doctor looked at Bernard’s advance-care paperwork.
“He specifically requested you.”
Gareth stepped forward.
“I’m his son.”
“And he requested Irene.”
For perhaps the first time in Gareth’s adult life, his surname did not open the door.
Irene entered alone.
Bernard looked exhausted.
But his eyes were clear.
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She almost cried.
“Your medication was altered.”
“I assumed.”
“You assumed?”
“Tessa asked me this afternoon whether I ever had trouble remembering names.”
He smiled faintly.
“I told her only hers.”
Irene sat beside him.
“Bernard, Gareth filed a capacity petition.”
“I know.”
“How?”
He pointed weakly toward his hearing-aid case.
Irene frowned.
“What?”
“It records.”
Her eyes widened.
Bernard had quietly activated an audio-recording function his audiologist installed for medical appointments.
It had been running during part of the dinner party.
During the hours after Irene left.
And according to Bernard, it had captured Gareth and Tessa arguing in the library.
He looked at Irene.
“Tessa said something Gareth wasn’t supposed to know.”
“What?”
Bernard’s smile vanished.
“She said once I was declared incompetent, Gareth would control the company for exactly seventy-two hours.”
“Why seventy-two?”
“Because after that…”
May you like
His fingers tightened around hers.
“…Tessa planned to make sure my son was removed too.”
