Chapter 7 - Helen Remembers Saint Matthew’s

Helen was awake when they returned to the estate.

She looked at Anthony.

For 10 seconds, neither spoke.

Then Helen said:

“You look terrible.”

Anthony laughed through tears.

“So do you.”

Caitlyn cried.

Santino stayed near the door.

Walter stood beside him.

Helen looked at her daughter.

“You found him.”

“No.”

Caitlyn wiped her face.

“He found us.”

Helen looked at Anthony.

“That sounds more like him.”

Anthony sat beside her.

“I am sorry.”

Helen nodded.

“I know.”

“That is not forgiveness.”

“No.”

Anthony looked down.

Santino almost smiled.

Families apparently shared phrases too.

Caitlyn sat on the other side.

“Mom.”

Helen looked at her.

“Were you a nurse?”

Silence.

Helen’s face changed.

Anthony closed his eyes.

Caitlyn continued.

“At Saint Matthew’s.”

Helen stared at the wall.

“I was.”

Caitlyn whispered:

“You never told me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

Helen’s hands shook.

“I stopped remembering parts of it.”

Anthony leaned forward.

“Helen.”

She looked at him.

“The stairs.”

Anthony’s face tightened.

Caitlyn frowned.

“What stairs?”

Helen touched her left knee.

“The clinic stairs.”

Silence.

“I fell.”

Anthony shook his head.

“No.”

Helen looked at him.

“You always said that.”

“Because someone pushed you.”

Walter whispered:

“Peter.”

Helen’s eyes moved to him.

“Your brother.”

Walter looked sick.

“Yes.”

Helen closed her eyes.

Memories came slowly.

“I saw him in records.”

“Doing what?” Santino asked.

She looked at him.

For one second, she saw Elena in his face.

“Your mother.”

Santino stopped.

Helen continued.

“Her chart.”

“What about it?”

“The dosage.”

She swallowed.

“It had been changed.”

“By Peter?”

“I saw him replace a page.”

Santino’s jaw tightened.

“What did you do?”

“Took the old one.”

“Where?”

Helen frowned.

“I do not know.”

Anthony whispered:

“You gave it to me.”

Helen looked at him.

“Did I?”

“Yes.”

“What happened next?”

“You confronted Peter.”

She stared.

“And?”

“He followed you to the stairwell.”

Helen looked down at her cane.

Caitlyn started crying.

“He pushed you.”

Anthony nodded.

Helen whispered:

“I remember his hand.”

Silence.

Caitlyn held her mother’s fingers.

Santino asked:

“What happened to the original page?”

Anthony looked at him.

“I gave it to Elena.”

“The bank box?”

“No.”

Santino frowned.

“Then where?”

Anthony looked toward the west hallway.

The cabinet.

His mother’s jewelry.

Santino understood.

“The brooch.”

Caitlyn looked up.

“What?”

Anthony nodded.

“Elena hid something inside it.”

Santino stared.

“The leaf brooch.”

“Yes.”

Caitlyn went pale.

“The one I pawned.”

“Yes.”

Silence.

Santino looked at her.

She looked horrified.

“I sold the evidence.”

He did not answer.

He called the pawn shop.

The owner answered.

The brooch had been returned to Santino’s security after they bought it back.

It was already at the estate.

Walter brought it.

Small.

Leaf-shaped.

Blue enamel.

Santino turned it over.

Nothing.

Anthony said:

“The pin.”

Walter examined it.

Tiny seam.

Santino used a pocket knife.

The back plate opened.

Inside:

A strip of microfilm.

Helen covered her mouth.

Anthony closed his eyes.

Caitlyn whispered:

“She kept it.”

Santino held it carefully.

Walter brought a magnifier.

The film showed a photographed prescription.

Elena Ferraro.

Original dosage.

Low.

Safe.

Signed by Bellini.

Santino stared.

Proof.

Then a second frame.

Peter Quinn.

A payment authorization.

Then a third.

Lorenzo Ferraro.

Santino went still.

The authorization read:

CONTINUE UNTIL E.F. SIGNS TRANSFER.

Walter whispered:

“Transfer of what?”

Anthony looked at Santino.

“Control of the ports.”

Silence.

Santino’s mother had not simply been drugged.

She had been pressured to sign away voting rights.

Caitlyn looked at the brooch.

“I took the one thing that could prove it.”

Santino looked at her.

“You also brought it back into the open.”

Caitlyn stared.

He continued.

“If you had taken the necklace, none of this happens.”

Walter almost smiled.

Helen looked at her daughter.

“You always did choose the smallest thing.”

Caitlyn laughed through tears.

Then the house phone rang.

Everyone looked at it.

Walter’s face changed.

Rule 2.

Never touch a telephone in the house.

Santino walked over.

Picked it up.

A man’s voice.

“Walter.”

The butler stopped breathing.

His brother.

Peter Quinn.

Alive.

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Peter continued.

“I believe Caitlyn found the brooch.”