Chapter 2 – Hidden Behind Smiles
While investigators searched the mansion, Ethan drove to the rehabilitation hospital where Ava had spent six months after the accident.
Most records had already been archived.
One elderly nurse recognized him immediately.
"Mr. Harrington."
"I need the truth."
She hesitated.
Then sighed.
"I wondered when someone would finally ask."
Her name was Helen.
She remembered Ava well.
"She was making remarkable progress."
Ethan frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Three months after the accident, she could already stand with assistance."
His breathing stopped.
"Stand?"
Helen nodded.
"We expected her to walk again."
Ethan felt the room spin.
"But then your mother insisted on transferring her care."
"She said the hospital wasn't meeting your wife's needs."
Helen shook her head slowly.
"We disagreed."
She disappeared into an archive room before returning with photocopied therapy reports.
Every report showed improvement.
Every report ended abruptly on the exact day Margaret removed Ava from the program.
Ethan stared at the dates.
His mother had told him something completely different.
She had claimed Ava's condition had suddenly worsened.
Helen reached into another folder.
"There was something else."
She handed him a handwritten note.
It had never reached him.
The paper was faded.
"Ethan... I think someone is changing my medicine. Please come before it's too late."
It was signed with Ava's shaky handwriting.
The date made his blood run cold.
The letter had been written eleven months earlier.
May you like
He had never received it.
Someone had made sure he never would.
