Chapter 9 - The Husband I Never Knew
By the following morning, my fear had transformed into anger.
For twelve years, I had mourned Robert.
I had kept his photographs beside my bed.
I had spoken to him in my prayers.
I had defended his memory whenever anyone questioned the circumstances of his death.
Now I had to consider whether he had allowed doctors to use me as an experiment.
I turned toward Daniel.
“Do you think your father betrayed me?”
He didn't answer immediately.
“I think Dad was involved in something terrible.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I don't know, Mom.”
His honesty hurt.
But I needed it.
Detective Brooks arrived with documents recovered from the abandoned laboratory.
Among them was a handwritten letter.
Robert's handwriting.
I recognized it instantly.
The careful loops.
The slightly tilted capital letters.
The way he crossed his sevens.
The letter was addressed to me.
My dearest Margaret,
If you're reading this, I failed to protect you.
My vision blurred.
I continued.
I believed I was helping develop a device that could transform medical treatment. I was told the research was legitimate and that every patient had agreed.
Then I discovered that the consent records had been altered.
One of those records belonged to you.
I covered my mouth.
Robert had discovered the truth.
The letter continued.
I brought you to the clinic because Voss convinced me that an examination was necessary to treat a condition he claimed to have found.
I did not know they intended to implant anything.
When I learned what happened, I confronted him.
He threatened to destroy our family if I exposed the project.
Tears fell onto the paper.
I remembered Robert's fear during his final days.
His restless pacing.
His insistence that I keep the envelope safe.
His strange final words.
I love you more than anything.
I had thought he was simply frightened by illness.
Now I understood.
He had been trying to warn me.
The final paragraph made my hands shake.
I have hidden copies of the original research records. If anything happens to me, Daniel must find the clock.
I looked up.
“The clock?”
Daniel frowned.
“What clock?”
I knew immediately.
Robert had built a grandfather clock for our fortieth wedding anniversary.
It stood in my living room.
He had spent nearly a year making it.
Every piece of wood had been polished by hand.
Every mechanism carefully assembled.
And for twelve years, I had kept it running because its ticking made the house feel less empty.
Detective Brooks leaned forward.
“Is the clock still in your home?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
“I'll go get it.”
The detective shook her head.
“My officers will accompany you.”
Hours later, Daniel called from my living room.
“Mom, we found something.”
“What?”
“Dad built a hidden compartment behind the clock face.”
My heart pounded.
“What was inside?”
Daniel paused.
“Documents. A small recording device. And a photograph.”
“Of whom?”
He swallowed.
“Dad and Dr. Voss.”
May you like
Then he added something that made my entire body go cold.
“Mom, there's also a picture of you lying unconscious on an operating table.”
