Chapter 1 - THE SENTENCE THAT ENDED THE PARTYEverett Holloway had spent seventy-two years believing silence was something people chose.
That afternoon, he learned silence could also be forced upon a room.
The living room of the Holloway mansion in northern New Jersey was bright with late-afternoon sunlight. White roses covered the long party table. Champagne glasses stood beside a three-tier cake. Nearly everyone had been laughing when Everett appeared at the top of the grand staircase.
He descended slowly, one hand resting on the silver handle of his wooden cane.
“Almost ready?”
Lorraine smiled.
“Finally.”
Preston moved a bottle of champagne.
Celia adjusted the flowers.
Near the bottom of the staircase, Onyx sat on the same wooden perch he had occupied for years.
The large black parrot belonged to Everett more than anyone else.
Everett had rescued him from an abandoned estate nearly twelve years earlier. Since then, Onyx had learned dozens of phrases.
“Good morning, Everett.”
“Where’s my coffee?”
“Preston, stop that.”
Even the sound of Lorraine laughing.
Everyone had grown accustomed to him.
That was why nobody reacted when the bird tilted his head.
Until he spoke.
“We have to get rid of old Everett today.”
Every smile vanished.
A champagne glass stopped halfway to Preston’s mouth.
Celia went rigid.
Lorraine’s hand froze above the flowers.
Everett stopped at the bottom of the staircase.
Onyx blinked.
The sentence had not sounded like random imitation.
The rhythm was too clean.
Too practiced.
Everett looked at his family.
Nobody moved.
He waited.
No explanation came.
His grip tightened around his cane.
“Onyx.”
The parrot ruffled his feathers.
Everett stared at him.
“Who said that?”
Lorraine laughed nervously.
“Oh, Everett. He picks up things from television.”
“No television has been on down here all morning.”
Preston set down his glass.
“Dad, he could’ve heard something weeks ago.”
“Maybe.”
Everett looked toward Celia.
She had gone pale.
Then he looked at Lorraine.
His wife’s expression was composed, but one hand trembled slightly.
Everett noticed everything.
He had built Holloway Medical Systems from a garage operation into a national company because he noticed what other people ignored.
He noticed when an executive answered too quickly.
When a banker avoided a number.
When a lawyer moved a document closer to himself during a negotiation.
And now he noticed that nobody in the room had asked the most obvious question.
Who would want Everett gone?
Instead, they were all trying to explain why the sentence meant nothing.
Everett slammed his cane against the marble floor.
THUD.
Everyone flinched.
“WHO WAS IT?”
No one answered.
Onyx suddenly turned.
Not randomly.
Deliberately.
His black head rotated toward someone standing near the party table.
Everett followed the bird’s gaze.
Celia.
Her face changed.
Preston looked at his wife.
Lorraine slowly lowered her hands.
Everett stared at Celia.
“Do you know something?”
“No.”
Too fast.
Everett’s eyes narrowed.
“Then why does the bird keep looking at you?”
“I don’t know.”
Onyx clicked his beak.
Celia took one step backward.
Everett’s voice became quiet.
“I suggest somebody starts talking.”
Preston stepped forward.
“Dad, this is getting ridiculous.”
Everett turned to him.
“Is it?”
“It’s a parrot.”
“A parrot that heard one of you discussing getting rid of me.”
“We don’t know that.”
Everett stared at his son.
Then Onyx spoke again.
Only two words this time.
“Blue folder.”
Celia’s eyes widened.
Everett saw it.
So did Preston.
Lorraine whispered:
“What blue folder?”
Celia looked toward the hallway.
That was enough.
Everett pointed his cane at her.
“Don’t move.”
But Celia had already turned.
She hurried toward the study.
Preston went after her.
“Celia!”
Everett followed as quickly as his injured knee allowed.
When he reached the study doorway, Celia was standing beside his desk.
A blue leather folder was in her hands.
Everett had never seen it before.
Celia looked at him.
Then at Preston.
“I can explain.”
Everett shut the door behind them.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Celia swallowed.
“This folder was supposed to disappear before you came downstairs.”
Everett’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
She opened it.
The first page carried his full legal name.
EVERETT JAMES HOLLOWAY
Below it:
PETITION REGARDING INCAPACITY AND SUCCESSOR CONTROL OF THE HOLLOWAY FAMILY TRUST
Everett stopped breathing for a moment.
Someone in his family had not been planning to kill him.
They had been planning something colder.
May you like
They wanted him alive.
They just wanted him powerless.
Related Stories
