Chapter 10 - The Second AutopsyEvelyn had been buried less than forty-eight hours when the court authorized exhumation.
Richard hated every part of it.
He hated the legal language.
He hated the equipment arriving at Greenridge before dawn.
He hated knowing Evelyn would be disturbed because he had failed to believe her while she was alive.
Mara stood beside him at a distance.
“You don't have to watch.”
“I do.”
“No, you don't.”
Richard looked at her.
“She did all of this for Blair.”
Mara said quietly, “Then honor her by taking care of Blair, not by punishing yourself.”
Richard looked away.
He knew Mara was right.
He still stayed.
The medical examiner, Dr. Samuel Keene, warned them results could take time.
“We'll screen broadly.”
Ortiz handed him Evelyn's cardiology report and the unfinished toxicology request.
“Focus on compounds that could create cardiac symptoms.”
Keene nodded.
Meanwhile, arrest warrants were issued for Marcus Vale on financial fraud charges and for Claire on additional charges related to Blair's confinement and suspected document tampering.
Judge Shaw took emergency leave.
Graham North publicly denied wrongdoing.
Northvale Development issued a statement calling the accusations “commercially motivated fabrications.”
Richard almost admired the wording.
Almost.
Then Landry Holdings' auditors found eleven million dollars missing.
The money had been transferred through shell companies over eighteen months.
Some returned disguised as consulting payments.
Some vanished offshore.
Marcus had fled.
His car was found at the regional airport.
No record of him boarding a commercial flight.
Richard believed he was running.
Ortiz believed someone might be helping him.
Blair stayed with Richard at a hotel under private security.
At night, nightmares woke her.
Sometimes she cried for Evelyn.
Sometimes she whispered Claire's name.
One night Richard found Blair sitting on the bathroom floor.
“What's wrong?”
She looked up.
“Is Claire coming?”
“No.”
“She said you always forgive her.”
Richard felt something inside him twist.
“When did she say that?”
“When she broke Mommy's picture.”
“What picture?”
“The wedding one.”
Richard sat.
“Claire broke a picture?”
Blair nodded.
“She said Mommy wasn't family anymore.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“How long ago?”
“Before Christmas.”
Nine months.
Richard had been on a business trip in Denver.
Claire had told him Blair was becoming “defiant.”
He remembered returning home and seeing Blair unusually quiet.
He had accepted Claire's explanation.
Richard whispered, “I should have asked you.”
Blair looked confused.
“You can ask now.”
The simplicity of it destroyed him.
He hugged her.
“I will. From now on, I ask.”
Three days later, Dr. Keene called.
“Preliminary results show an abnormal concentration of a cardiac glycoside.”
Richard gripped the phone.
“What does that mean?”
“A substance capable of causing arrhythmia.”
“Could it occur naturally?”
“Yes.”
“Could it be administered?”
“Yes.”
“Was there enough to kill her?”
A pause.
“Potentially.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Can you prove someone gave it to her?”
“Not yet.”
But the death certificate was changed.
Cause of death:
Pending investigation.
Manner:
Undetermined.
The news leaked within hours.
Reporters descended on Greenridge County.
Headlines connected Evelyn's death to Blair's cemetery abuse video.
Richard refused interviews.
Then one reporter published something no investigator had yet shared publicly:
Sources say authorities are examining a possible poisoning involving plant-derived toxins.
Ortiz was furious.
“That detail was restricted.”
Richard asked, “Who knew?”
“Six people.”
One was Dr. Keene.
One Ortiz.
Two lab technicians.
The prosecutor.
And Judge Shaw, because his counsel had requested disclosure after learning the case might intersect with the Bellamy investigation.
Ortiz stared at Richard.
“Someone wants Claire to know what we're testing.”
“Why?”
“To help her shape a defense.”
Or destroy evidence.
Police searched Richard's home.
In the gardening shed they found several ornamental plants containing compounds consistent with the preliminary toxicology findings.
Claire's attorney immediately claimed Evelyn could have been exposed accidentally.
Ortiz swore when she heard.
“They planted a defense before we even announced a charge.”
Richard looked at the gardening shed.
Claire had redesigned it six months earlier.
He remembered her laughing about finally making the backyard “useful.”
The pieces fit too neatly.
That frightened him.
Someone had planned not just an act.
They had planned the explanation.
Later, Mara called.
“Richard, you need to come to Greenridge.”
“What happened?”
“Someone broke into the chapel.”
He arrived twenty minutes later.
The door had been forced.
The floor beneath the silent bell torn apart.
But the evidence was already with police.
The intruder found nothing.
Except Mara noticed something else.
A muddy shoe print led behind the chapel.
Then to an abandoned service road.
Security footage caught a man running toward a dark SUV.
Ortiz froze the image.
Richard stared.
The face was partially hidden beneath a cap.
But he recognized the body.
The walk.
The posture.
“Marcus.”
Ortiz nodded.
Marcus Vale had not fled the county.
He had stayed.
And he was desperate enough to return to the cemetery for Evelyn's evidence.
May you like
Which meant someone had told him exactly where the evidence had been found.
Someone inside the investigation was still talking.
Related Stories
