Chapter 8
For nearly a week, Evelyn vanished.
The investigator lost her twice and finally admitted she had become careful.
Too careful.
Meanwhile, Isaac kept trying to reach me.
He sent flowers I threw away.
Letters I never opened.
One night he even came to the gate of my parents’ house, demanding to speak with me.
My mother had him removed.
Then, on the eighth day, he got through.
A call from an unknown number.
I answered without thinking.
“Caroline,” he said.
My spine went rigid.
“What do you want?”
“We need to talk.”
“We have nothing to talk about.”
He exhaled sharply. “I know what happened to Nathan.”
Everything in me froze.
My voice came out flat. “Where are you?”
“St. Vincent’s Hospital. Inpatient wing. Room 614.”
I didn’t hesitate.
By the time I reached the hospital, rain was pelting the windows in silver sheets.
Isaac was in a private room.
Both legs were in casts.
A thick bandage wrapped one side of his head.
He looked terrible.
For one brief, traitorous second, pity flickered in me.
Then I remembered the wedding.
Nathan.
Evelyn.
And the pity died.
He gave me a weak smile.
“You came.”
“Talk.”
His smile faded.
He stared at the sheets for a moment before saying, “Nathan’s death wasn’t an accident.”
“I know.”
His eyes snapped to mine.
Then he gave a hollow laugh.
“So you’re already ahead of me.”
I didn’t move. “Say what you called me here to say.”
He licked his lips.
“Evelyn arranged it.”
My nails bit into my palm.
“She needed a transplant. We found a compatible donor, but he wouldn’t give consent early enough. She panicked. I told her there might be another way. She hired someone. A drunk driver. A collision that would look accidental.”
I felt sick.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You expect me to believe you’re innocent?”
“I didn’t say that.” His voice cracked. “But Evelyn did it.”
I stepped closer to the bed.
“If you know so much, why are you in this condition?”
His mouth twisted bitterly.
“She found out I told you the truth. We argued. She pushed me down the stairs at the house outside the city.”
The house outside the city.
Nathan’s house.
The one he had bought shortly before his death and never lived in.
My stomach turned.
Isaac looked up at me desperately.
“She’s there now.
I drove to Nathan’s house with my heart hammering so hard it hurt.
But this time, I did not go alone.
On the way, I called the police and left the line connected in my coat pocket. I told them where I was going and why. They instructed me to keep talking if I made contact.
The house stood at the edge of the city, dark and elegant behind iron gates.
I still knew the code.
Nathan had made everything in his life easy for me.
When I stepped inside, the air smelled faintly of dust and polished wood.
Piano music drifted from the sitting room.
Moonlight Sonata.
Nathan’s favorite.
Evelyn sat at the grand piano in a black dress, her back to me.
When the last note faded, she said without turning, “I knew you would come.”
I stood in the doorway.
“Did you kill my brother?”
She lowered her hands into her lap.
For a long moment, there was only silence.
Then she said softly, “I didn’t know it would be Nathan.”
My throat closed.
She turned at last, tears glimmering in her eyes.
“If I had known, I never would have done it.”
I laughed once, a terrible sound.
“That’s supposed to comfort me?”
She rose from the bench and faced me fully.
“I was dying, Caroline. Do you understand? Dying. Isaac told me he found a compatible heart, but the donor was terminally ill and unwilling to sign early release papers. He said if that man died naturally or otherwise, the heart could be secured in time.”
My hands were shaking now.
“And you agreed?”
Her face crumpled.
“I wanted to live.”
“So you murdered Nathan.”
“I didn’t know it was him!”
The scream tore from her.
“I thought it was a stranger. I thought—” She pressed a hand to her chest. “When I learned this heart was his, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t sleep. Every beat felt like judgment.”
I stepped closer, fury blinding.
“My brother loved you.”
Tears spilled down her face.
“I know.”
“He wrote about you. He was going to bring you home to meet us.”
She covered her mouth and sobbed.
I should have felt satisfaction.
Instead, all I felt was the vast, black ruin of grief.
Then Evelyn looked up at me, something wild entering her eyes.
“You know what the worst part is?” she whispered. “Nathan always chose you first. Always. Even with me, it was always Caroline this, Caroline that. The night he died, he was going to save you.”
She laughed through tears.
“Maybe it should have been you.”
Before I could react, she lunged.