Chapter 12 - ISABELLA
The medical examiner reopened Isabella's file.
Her body had been cremated, so there would be no second autopsy.
But blood samples remained in storage.
A toxicologist found traces of a blood-pressure medication Isabella had never been prescribed.
Not enough to prove murder by itself.
Enough to matter.
Elaine reviewed the dose.
"In someone with her history, it could have increased the risk of collapse."
I felt the room tilt.
"Could Raymond access it?"
"Easily."
Police searched the old foundation pharmacy records.
A supply discrepancy matched the week Isabella died.
Lucinda's badge had entered the clinic pharmacy that afternoon.
I could not breathe for a moment.
I thought of every dinner with her.
Every vacation.
Every time she sat beside Ruby and pretended affection.
Every time I let her into the house Isabella had built with me.
Then Marco interrupted.
"We found Raymond."
His private plane had landed in Indiana.
Federal agents detained him at a rural airstrip.
He denied everything.
He called Isabella unstable.
He called Ruby manipulative.
He called me emotional.
The same words again.
The language of people who needed victims to sound unreliable.
Then he asked for a deal.
"Bring me Lucinda," the prosecutor said.
Raymond smiled.
"She isn't with me."
"Where is she?"
He leaned back.
"Ask Salvatore's attorney."
Daniel.
I stared through the interview glass.
My family attorney had given Lucinda the trust.
Had approved her document requests.
Had missed every fake signature.
Or claimed to.
I called Marco.
"Find Daniel."
He was already gone.
May you like
His office safe stood open.
And every original guardianship document was missing.
