Chapter 3 - Room 614
Eleanor crossed the Blackwood lobby without hurrying.
She had always understood that moving slowly made other people feel disorderly.
Tonight it failed.
Dr. Park intercepted her.
“Mrs. Ashford, we need clarification regarding Mr. Ashford’s transfer.”
“My attorneys will handle that.”
“There may be conflicting health-care directives.”
Eleanor looked at Claire.
“There are not.”
Claire said, “Daniel updated his proxy last November.”
Eleanor’s expression did not change.
“You don’t know what Daniel signed.”
“Neither do you, apparently.”
One attorney stepped forward.
“This conversation should stop.”
Claire recognized him.
Graham Vale.
Ashford Holdings’ general counsel and chief administrative officer.
He had worked with Eleanor for twenty years.
Miriam had once described him as “the kind of attorney who can say absolutely nothing for forty minutes and charge six thousand dollars.”
Vale looked at Dr. Park.
“We have a valid health-care proxy naming Mrs. Eleanor Ashford.”
“From 2021,” Claire said.
His eyes flickered.
Claire caught it.
Dr. Park did too.
“I want legal counsel from the hospital group involved,” Dr. Park said. “No transfer occurs until the documents are reviewed.”
Eleanor’s composure cracked.
“Daniel requires specialized rehabilitation.”
“Then three hours will not alter that.”
“You don’t understand the risks.”
Claire stepped closer.
“What risks?”
Eleanor ignored her.
Claire’s voice hardened.
“What happens if Daniel stays in New York?”
Vale said, “Claire.”
She turned.
He rarely used her first name.
“This is not the time.”
“It became the time when my dead husband called me.”
Dr. Park asked Claire to wait in a consultation room while legal staff reviewed both sets of records.
Claire refused to leave the sixth floor.
Eventually they let her sit near the nurses’ station.
Room 614 stood twenty yards away.
Two security guards remained outside it.
Private security.
Not Blackwood employees.
Claire noticed the crest on their jackets.
Ashford Holdings.
Her anger changed temperature.
“Why does my husband have corporate guards?”
Dr. Park looked uncomfortable.
“They were requested for privacy after the accident.”
“Who requested them?”
No answer necessary.
Claire watched Eleanor.
“Take them away.”
“You have no authority.”
“Maybe not.”
Claire lifted her phone.
“But if they prevent me from seeing Daniel after he asked for me, the next call I make is to the state police.”
Vale moved toward Eleanor.
They whispered.
Ten minutes later the guards stepped away.
At 6:08 p.m., Dr. Park returned.
“We located an electronic copy of a newer proxy in a health-information exchange.”
Claire stood.
“Who is agent?”
Dr. Park looked at her.
“You.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Only for a second.
Enough.
Claire whispered, “You knew.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Dr. Park continued.
“The document was executed November fourteenth and expressly revokes previous proxies.”
Vale began speaking quickly about questions of capacity and authentication.
Dr. Park interrupted.
“Our counsel believes the document controls unless a court says otherwise.”
Claire looked toward room 614.
“Can I see him?”
“Yes.”
Her legs suddenly felt weak.
She had imagined Daniel dead so completely that seeing him alive frightened her.
Dr. Park opened the door.
The room was dim.
Daniel lay propped against white pillows.
For one second Claire did not recognize him.
His face was thinner.
A healing cut crossed his temple.
His left arm rested in a brace.
One leg was elevated.
Dark bruising shadowed his jaw.
Then his eyes found her.
Everything familiar returned at once.
“Claire.”
She stopped in the doorway.
Daniel began crying before she did.
She crossed the room.
Carefully.
Afraid to touch him.
He held out his right hand.
Claire took it.
Warm.
Alive.
She bent over him and sobbed.
Not gracefully.
Not quietly.
Three weeks of mourning reversed itself through her body.
Daniel pressed his forehead against her hair.
“They told me you left.”
Claire pulled back.
“What?”
His eyes were bloodshot.
“My mother said you didn’t want to see me.”
Claire stared.
“She told me you died.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What?”
“She told me you were dead.”
He looked toward the doorway.
Eleanor stood outside.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Get her out.”
Eleanor stepped in.
“Daniel, you are not well enough for this.”
“I said get out.”
“You suffered a traumatic brain injury.”
“I know what I’m saying.”
Claire looked at Dr. Park.
“No Eleanor unless Daniel asks.”
Dr. Park nodded.
Eleanor’s face became rigid.
“Claire, he doesn’t understand the consequences.”
Daniel gave a broken laugh.
“That sentence again.”
Eleanor stopped.
Daniel looked at Claire.
“She’s been saying that since I woke up.”
“When did you wake up?”
“Really wake up? Nine days ago.”
Claire looked at Eleanor.
Nine days.
Nine days in which Eleanor could have told her.
Nine days she remained a widow in her own mind.
Daniel continued.
“My phone was gone. They said it was destroyed.”
“How did you call?”
“Nurse.”
A young nurse near the doorway looked nervous.
Daniel smiled faintly.
“Rosa found my old phone in a property envelope Eleanor’s people brought yesterday.”
Claire squeezed his hand.
“Why were they moving you?”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“She wanted me in Switzerland before tomorrow.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
Silence.
Then Daniel said:
“Board vote.”
Eleanor’s jaw tightened.
Claire remembered the Ashford House transfer.
“What vote?”
Daniel’s voice weakened, but his eyes remained clear.
“They’re trying to refinance Ashford House.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s a hole in the company.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“How large?”
Daniel looked toward Vale.
Vale said nothing.
Daniel answered.
“Forty-two million dollars.”
Claire stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“I thought so too.”
“Where did it go?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
He swallowed.
“But I know where some of it went.”
Eleanor stepped toward him.
“Daniel, stop.”
Claire moved between them.
“Leave.”
Eleanor glared.
Daniel’s voice came from behind Claire.
“Mom.”
Eleanor looked at her son.
He said:
“I know about Bellweather.”
For the first time, Eleanor looked truly frightened.
Claire turned toward Daniel.
“What is Bellweather?”
Before he could answer, the monitors beside his bed began alarming.
His heart rate jumped.
Dr. Park ordered everyone out except medical staff.
Claire stepped into the hall, shaken.
Eleanor moved toward the elevators.
Claire caught her arm.
“What is Bellweather?”
Eleanor pulled free.
“Ask your husband when he remembers what actually happened.”
Claire froze.
“What does that mean?”
Eleanor looked directly at her.
“The last person Daniel met before his crash worked for Bellweather.”
“Who?”
Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“Graham Vale.”
Claire turned.
May you like
But Vale was already gone.
---
