Chapter 4 - Fingerprints

The vase became evidence.

Marcus’s fingerprints covered the neck and base.

Mom’s prints appeared only near the bottom from old handling.

Mine?

None.

The plan had expected me to grab it.

Maybe wrestle Marcus.

Maybe touch it while “trying to help.”

I didn’t.

Training.

Distance.

Commands first.

Evidence later.

That ruined their scene.

Then the syringe.

No prints from me.

Cole’s prints on the medication vial.

Marcus’s on the plastic wrapper.

Then kitchen camera footage.

I did not know Mom had installed a small camera above the pantry after Marcus moved in.

Cheap.

Battery-powered.

No cloud service.

Memory card.

He never noticed.

The footage showed everything.

Marcus entering the kitchen with Mom.

Arguing over the key.

Grabbing her wrist.

Cole arriving earlier through the back door.

Injecting Mom while Marcus held her arm.

Then leaving.

Hours later, Marcus returning with the vase.

Then me walking in.

No ambiguity.

Pike watched it twice.

Then said:

“Your mother saved herself.”

I looked at Mom.

She shrugged weakly.

“I watched crime shows.”

I laughed for the first time in two days.

Then the camera showed another visitor.

Captain Hollis.

Three nights earlier.

He sat at Mom’s kitchen table.

No uniform.

Marcus beside him.

They discussed timing.

Hollis:

“Colonel comes home Friday.”

Marcus:

“Mom thinks Saturday.”

Hollis:

“Good. Keep it that way.”

Then:

“Cole handles the evaluation Thursday.”

“Guardianship Friday morning.”

“House transfer Friday afternoon.”

“And if Grace interferes?”

Hollis smiled.

“Then we make her the problem.”

Mom had recorded all of it.

Then Pike asked:

“Why didn’t you call police?”

Mom looked ashamed.

“I did.”

Everyone froze.

“When?”

“Last month.”

“What happened?”

“A captain came.”

Hollis.

Of course.

He told her she was confused.

Called Marcus.

Left.

Then Marcus punished her for calling.

Took her phone.

Locked her in her bedroom overnight.

The system had not failed accidentally.

It had been intercepted.

Then Internal Affairs traced Mom’s call.

Dispatch record existed.

Welfare check closed by Hollis personally.

No officer assigned.

He had driven there alone.

That gave prosecutors direct obstruction evidence.

Then Pike received another update.

One of the six dead clients had a surviving daughter.

She had kept a voicemail from her father.

The night before he died.

He said:

“Dr. Cole gave me something. Captain Hollis says I’m going to a care home tomorrow.”

Then:

“I don’t want to go.”

The next morning he was dead.

Accidental overdose.

No autopsy.

Pike looked at me.

“We’re reopening all six deaths.”

Then another call.

The guardianship attorney connected to the scheme, Calvin Ross, was missing.

Office empty.

Phone off.

Passport used at Columbus airport ninety minutes earlier.

Destination:

Toronto.

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He was running.

And he had taken the master client ledger with him.