I Gave Him Half My Liver, Then He Sold My Father's House novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: The Papers That Could Not Have Been Signed
Cormac Deane takes the evidence cabinet key from Elena and places it in my palm before anyone can ask him not to.
'Nell Ashford,' he says, with the full formality he uses when he is frightened, 'you should open it.'
The key is warm from his hand. Elena watches me close my fingers around it, then looks toward the forensic examiner waiting beside the table.
'The report?' she asks.
'Completed and sealed until delivery,' the examiner says. 'I was instructed to hand it to Ms Ashford.'
His voice is careful. People become careful when paper has begun to threaten them.
I cross to the cabinet and fit the key into the lock. The mechanism sticks once, then gives. Inside, Elena's folders stand in date order, each tab marked in her square black handwriting.
The probate bundle sits on the middle shelf. The hospital papers are behind it, where I placed them after Daphne admitted the date could not be trusted.
Cormac comes closer. His sleeve brushes mine as he looks into the cabinet.
'The examiner expects you to start with the conclusion,' he says.
'That would be efficient.'
'It would also let the conclusion choose the order of the facts.'
I take out the probate bundle and set it on the table. The examiner places his sealed report beside it. Elena uncaps a pen.
'What are you doing?' Cormac asks.
I open the bundle to the hospital discharge summary.
The page carries the hospital crest, the archive stamp, and the admission date. Thomas Ashford was admitted for emergency cardiac treatment on 14 March. The discharge entry records a later date. His name is typed beneath both.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of I Gave Him Half My Liver, Then He Sold My Father's House are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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