“Not revenge.”
Walter nodded.
“Good.”
“If she didn't?”
Nicholas looked toward the window.
“Then I nearly destroyed the wrong person.”
Walter understood.
The household security system produced the first significant evidence.
Claire had entered Nicholas’s bedroom repeatedly while Hannah attended physical therapy with him downstairs.
That was not suspicious alone.
She was his fiancée.
But one camera showed Claire opening the drawer where medication had previously been stored.
Another showed her leaving seven minutes later.
Three dates aligned with the periods when Nicholas’s symptoms worsened.
Still circumstantial.
Then pharmacy records revealed something else.
Claire had visited a private physician under her own name months earlier.
A legitimate prescription had been issued to her.
Same medication found among Nicholas’s tablets.
Walter stared at the report.
“Jesus.”
Nicholas did not react immediately.
He sat in his library two days after leaving the hospital.
Stronger.
Clearer.
Hannah had already noticed the difference.
His hands were steadier.
His speech sharper.
He stayed awake through an entire business meeting.
Nicholas looked at Walter.
“Same drug?”
“Yes.”
“Her prescription?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Four months ago.”
Nicholas looked toward Hannah.
She remained silent.
He asked:
“Does this prove she put them there?”
Hannah answered:
“No.”
Walter looked annoyed.
Nicholas smiled faintly.
“That’s why she’s here.”
Walter sighed.
Hannah continued:
“It establishes access.”
“Not administration.”
Nicholas nodded.
“What establishes administration?”
“Video.”
“Admission.”
“Physical evidence.”
“Possibly fingerprints depending on handling.”
“Other records.”
Walter said:
“We have another thing.”
Nicholas looked over.
The mansion’s kitchen staff had reported Claire frequently requesting that Nicholas’s evening tea be left unattended in the upstairs sitting room.
Hannah frowned.
“How often?”
“Several times.”
“Did anyone see her add anything?”
“No.”
Hannah shook her head.
“Still not proof.”
Walter leaned back.
“You planning to defend her all day?”
Hannah looked at him.
“I’m planning to make sure we don't replace one assumption with another.”
Nicholas watched them.
Then laughed.
Walter looked at him.
“What?”
“This is the first intelligent argument anyone in this house has had in years.”
Hannah rolled her eyes.
The engagement announcement was postponed publicly.
The explanation:
Medical circumstances.
Nothing more.
Claire called Nicholas sixteen times.
He answered the seventeenth.
Hannah was in the room.
So was Walter.
Nicholas put the call on speaker.
Claire sounded exhausted.
“Thank God.”
Nicholas said nothing.
She continued.
“I need to explain.”
“Go ahead.”
Claire breathed.
“I never wanted you dead.”
Nicholas’s eyes changed.
Walter looked at Hannah.
Nobody had said dead.
Claire realized too late.
“Nicholas.”
He spoke quietly.
“I didn't ask whether you wanted me dead.”
Silence.
He continued:
“I asked you to explain.”
Claire began crying.
“I just wanted you calmer.”
Hannah’s hand tightened around her pen.
Nicholas stayed perfectly still.
“Calmer.”
“Yes.”
“You were impossible.”
“Angry.”
“You yelled.”
“You humiliated me.”
“You wouldn't sleep.”
“You fought everyone.”
Nicholas looked toward his useless legs.
Then said:
“I had been paralyzed.”
Claire sobbed.