Chapter 13
Dr. Price was found during the second week of trial.
Not by police.
By a nurse.
She recognized him at a bus station and called the tip line.
He was carrying cash and a forged ID.
He lasted three hours in interrogation.
Then he gave up everything.
Evelyn paid him to medicate Robert.
Martin paid him to falsify reports.
He signed Clara’s fake infant death note.
He helped prepare a mental incompetency petition against me.
But there was more.
He had treated Evelyn for years.
He knew Daniel was Martin’s son.
He knew Evelyn’s first husband, a man named Charles, had not died of a stroke.
Charles.
Robert looked stunned when the prosecutor brought the name into evidence.
Henry stood abruptly.
“That’s my brother.”
The court froze.
Evelyn had been married before Robert.
To Henry’s younger brother.
Charles died six months after marrying her.
She then married Robert three years later.
Henry whispered, “I thought she was grieving.”
Dr. Price’s files suggested Charles had also been overmedicated.
Another grave.
Another man.
Another life folded into Evelyn’s hunger.
The judge allowed the prosecution to expand conspiracy evidence.
Evelyn’s face finally cracked.
Not from guilt.
From calculation.
She asked for a plea.
The state refused.
Too many victims now.
Too many bodies.
Too many forged papers.
Too many lives.
That night, I dreamed of Evelyn’s hand in my hair.
I woke shaking.
Then Clara called.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
May you like
“Me neither.”
We stayed on the phone until morning.
