Chapter 3 - The Word Ethan Could Still Say
Ethan woke the next morning stronger.
Not strong.
But stronger.
Dr. Shah brought a communication board with letters and common words.
Speaking exhausted him.
Pointing was easier.
Noah watched as Ethan slowly selected letters.
V.
I.
V.
Grace stopped him.
“You mean Vivian?”
One blink.
Yes.
Then:
D.
R.
I.
N.
K.
Vivian.
Drink.
Dr. Shah asked:
“Did Vivian regularly prepare a drink for you at home?”
One blink.
Grace’s expression hardened.
“What kind?”
Ethan pointed painfully.
T.
E.
A.
Grace looked at Noah.
Every night after dinner, Vivian made Ethan tea.
Noah remembered it.
Dark mug.
Honey.
Sometimes lemon.
Ethan used to joke that Vivian made better tea than coffee.
Then, two months before the crash, he began falling asleep early.
Sometimes at the dinner table.
Vivian said he was overworking.
Noah had believed her.
“When did this start?” Grace asked.
Ethan tried spelling.
S.
I.
X.
“Six what? Days? Weeks?”
W.
“Six weeks?”
One blink.
Grace turned away.
Dr. Shah continued gently.
“Did you know there was medication in the tea?”
Two blinks.
No.
“Did you suspect something before the accident?”
Ethan hesitated.
Then one blink.
“Why?”
He pointed.
B.
I.
T.
T.
E.
R.
The tea had tasted bitter.
Noah remembered Ethan once pushing the mug away.
Vivian had laughed.
“Too much lemon peel.”
Then Ethan selected another word.
S.
I.
L.
V.
E.
R.
“Silver?” Grace asked.
One blink.
“Silver what?”
He struggled.
C.
A.
S.
E.
Grace frowned.
“A silver case?”
One blink.
Noah suddenly remembered something.
“Vivian has one.”
Everyone looked at him.
“A little silver pill box. It’s square. She keeps it in her purse.”
Detective Vega asked him not to elaborate unless he was sure.
Noah nodded.
“I’ve seen it.”
“When?”
“At restaurants. At home.”
“Did you ever see what was inside?”
“Pills.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
Good.
Another fact without invention.
Ethan touched the communication board.
S.
A.
W.
“Did you see Vivian use the silver case yesterday?”
One blink.
Noah’s stomach twisted.
Ethan had been awake.
Maybe not visibly.
But awake enough to watch.
Dr. Shah asked:
“Did you see her put something from that case into Noah’s drink?”
One blink.
Then Ethan closed his eyes.
The effort had exhausted him.
Detective Vega stopped the questioning.
“That’s enough.”
Grace protested.
“He knows more.”
“And we want him able to tell us later.”
Grace sat down.
She was learning patience under protest.
Noah retrieved the wastebasket.
“My card.”
The pieces were still inside.
Emma had not emptied it because police had asked staff to preserve everything from the room.
Noah pulled the two halves out.
The tear ran through the drawing of the fishing pole.
Grace helped him place the pieces in a plastic sleeve.
“Why did Vivian tear this?” Noah asked.
Nobody knew.
Then Grace read the inside.
IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, SQUEEZE MY HAND.
Her face changed.
“She didn’t want you testing whether he could hear you.”
Noah looked toward his father.
That possibility seemed obvious now.
Vivian had spent days telling everyone Ethan was unaware.
If Noah discovered otherwise, he might start asking him questions.
Detective Vega requested Ethan’s home security records.
Grace said the house had cameras.
Vivian had the passwords.
Police could not simply search the house without proper authority, but the emerging evidence supported further legal steps.
Meanwhile, Ethan’s attorney arrived.
Mara Ellison had represented him for nine years.
She was stunned to learn Vivian claimed a health-care proxy.
“I prepared Ethan’s estate plan eighteen months ago,” Mara said. “The named alternate medical decision-maker was Grace.”
Grace stared.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Vivian says Ethan changed it.”
“Not through my office.”
“That doesn’t mean he didn’t.”
“No.”
Mara never overstated.
“But I spoke with Ethan nine days before the crash. He told me he wanted to update several documents.”
Grace’s face tightened.
“What documents?”
Mara looked toward Noah.
“Adult matters.”
Noah frowned.
“I’m already in adult matters.”
No one could argue with that.
Grace took him to the cafeteria.
When she returned, Mara closed the door.
“Ethan intended to separate from Vivian.”
Grace stared.
“Why?”
“He had discovered financial transactions he did not recognize.”
“How much?”
“He didn’t know yet.”
“Did Vivian know?”
“He believed she did.”
Mara had advised Ethan to preserve records before confronting her.
They scheduled another meeting for the morning after the crash.
Ethan never arrived.
Detective Vega wrote everything down.
Mara continued.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“Ethan was concerned about Noah.”
Grace went still.
“He said Vivian had become increasingly controlling about when Noah could see him.”
“Before the accident?”
“Yes.”
“He thought she was trying to separate them?”
“He didn’t know what to think.”
Grace sat back.
For months she had blamed Ethan for allowing Vivian to cut her out of the family.
Maybe he had finally begun to see it.
Too late.
Or almost too late.
Mara looked at the hospital bed.
“He asked me one question before we ended the call.”
“What?”
“Whether someone could obtain control of his personal assets if he were temporarily incapacitated.”
Grace’s skin prickled.
“What did you tell him?”
“That incapacity alone does not hand everything to a spouse, especially with his existing trust and company documents.”
“And Vivian?”
“She would know that only if she had seen the estate papers.”
Mara paused.
“Ethan told me he thought she had.”
Detective Vega’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
The court had approved access to the retained admission blood sample for specialized toxicology testing.
Results would take time.
Grace stared through the glass at Ethan.
Then Noah returned carrying two cartons of milk.
He gave one to Grace.
“No tea,” he said.
The attempt at humor almost broke her.
She pulled him close.
Behind them Ethan opened his eyes.
His lips moved.
Noah hurried to him.
“What?”
Ethan tried again.
One word.
“Drawer.”
Grace leaned in.
“What drawer?”
Ethan looked at her.
Then pointed weakly toward the communication board.
H.
O.
M.
E.
A drawer at home.
Whatever Ethan had hidden there before the crash, he desperately wanted them to find it.
May you like
And Vivian still had the house.
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