Chapter 13 - THE RECORDER INSIDE ELEANOR’S GIFTThe silver clock contained twenty-seven minutes of audio.
Most recorded the empty gift box.
Then Rebecca entered the dining hall.
Her voice sounded close.
“Is it working?”
Nathaniel answered.
“Yes.”
“What exactly do you need Mother to say?”
“That she wants me to protect the family.”
“She already says that.”
“We need it after she drinks.”
Rebecca was silent for several seconds.
Then she asked, “Will it hurt her?”
Nathaniel replied, “It will make her cooperative.”
The recording did not capture Rebecca asking what would happen afterward.
She left.
Dr. Hale entered later.
He checked the device.
Nathaniel asked, “How long before it looks natural?”
The doctor said, “At her age, no one will question the first explanation.”
Then came the sentence Snow remembered.
“We have to kill that old woman on her birthday.”
Nathaniel laughed immediately afterward.
Not a joke.
A release of nervousness.
Dr. Hale told him not to use those words.
Nathaniel replied, “Fine. We have to help nature choose a convenient evening.”
Snow had repeated the clearest phrase.
The clock recorded the truth.
Perhaps Nathaniel planned to destroy the memory card after obtaining my voice.
He never expected the gift box to fall.
Rebecca listened to the audio with her eyes closed.
When it ended, she whispered, “I left before that part.”
“Do you expect that to comfort me?” I asked.
“No.”
“Did you know he intended to impair me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe I could provide legal consent while impaired?”
“No.”
“Then you already intended to steal my choices.”
She nodded.
The distinction between theft and murder mattered legally.
It mattered morally too.
But it did not make Rebecca innocent.
She had agreed to weaken me.
To record me.
To declare me incompetent.
She only objected when Nathaniel betrayed Clara.
Not when he betrayed me.
Detective Cross asked whether I wished to rest.
“I will rest after I understand the full plan.”
“You’ve been awake for hours.”
“I have also been alive for ninety years. One night is manageable.”
Clara smiled despite herself.
Snow had fallen asleep on his perch.
The bird’s head rested beneath one wing.
Completely unaware that his memory had dismantled an inheritance plot.
The laboratory called again.
The cake itself contained nothing unusual.
The marked slice was a visual cue.
The substance was intended for my crystal glass.
Police found residue on the pearl-marked rim.
Then they examined the birthday champagne bottle.
The seal had been broken and replaced.
It contained no harmful substance.
Only sparkling water.
Nathaniel wanted me to believe I was drinking champagne while remaining sober enough to sign.
The dangerous substance was prepared separately for one glass.
The plan required a precise exchange during the toast.
Someone needed to place that glass in my hand.
May you like
The event schedule named the person responsible.
Rebecca.
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