Hannah stopped.
Nicholas said:
“She was working.”
“You were looking at her.”
“Claire.”
“What?”
“I’m done having this conversation.”
“You don't get to dismiss me.”
Nicholas’s wheelchair moved.
Then Claire’s voice sharpened.
“I kept you alive.”
Nicholas replied:
“No.”
“Hannah did.”
Silence.
Then the slap.
Hannah moved before thinking.
By the time Claire raised her hand again, Hannah had her wrist.
Now, standing in the foyer with the evidence bag between them, everything hidden had reached the surface.
Claire stared at the tablets.
Nicholas stared at Claire.
Hannah watched both.
Nicholas asked:
“Who had access?”
Hannah hesitated.
Claire jumped in.
“Everyone.”
Hannah turned toward her.
“That’s not true.”
Claire’s eyes flashed.
“How would you know?”
“Because I logged it.”
Nicholas looked at Hannah.
“You logged medication access?”
“After the first discrepancy.”
Claire laughed.
“This is insane.”
Hannah ignored her.
“House staff rarely entered your bedroom without me.”
“Walter never handled medication.”
“Your physician didn’t.”
“The pharmacy confirmed the bottles were filled correctly.”
Claire’s breathing changed.
Nicholas saw.
“What about me?”
Hannah looked at him.
“You had access.”
“Could I have mixed them accidentally?”
“Possible.”
Claire seized it.
“There.”
Hannah continued.
“But unlikely.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because the substituted tablets appeared in two separate bottles.”
Silence.
Nicholas looked toward Claire.
Her confidence began to fracture.
Claire stepped backward.
“You’re accusing me.”
Hannah said:
“I haven't named you.”
“You’re looking at me.”
“So is he.”
Nicholas’s voice was calm.
Terrifyingly calm.
“Claire.”
She turned.
“Were you changing my medication?”
“No.”
“Look at me.”
She did.
Nicholas had spent his adult life recognizing fear.
Claire was afraid.
He asked again.
“Were you changing it?”
“No.”
“Then why did you ask where the medication tray was yesterday?”
Claire froze.
Hannah’s eyes moved toward Nicholas.
He had heard.
Claire recovered.
“Because I’m your fiancée.”
Nicholas nodded.
“Which apparently makes you interested in pharmaceuticals now.”
She stepped closer.
“You're letting some nurse destroy us.”
Nicholas’s face hardened.
“She didn't slap me.”
Claire looked down.
Then back.
“I lost control.”
Nicholas nodded.
“For how long?”
“What?”
“The slap.”
“The pills.”
“The canceled meetings.”
“The confusion.”
“How long have you been losing control?”
Claire’s face changed.
Hannah saw something close to panic.
She said:
“Nicholas, we need to get you medically evaluated.”
He ignored her.
“Claire.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“You think I wanted this?”
Nicholas stared.
“What is ‘this’?”
Claire looked around the mansion.
At the marble.
The chandelier.
The flowers.
The wheelchair.
Then him.
“This.”
She pointed toward the chair.
Nicholas became completely still.