Chapter 3 - Shadows of the Past
The interrogation—though Vance politely called it an "information-sharing session"—took place in a quiet consultation room down the hall from the pediatric intensive care unit. Outside the window, the dawn was struggling to break through a thick, bruised blanket of storm clouds.
I leaned against the whiteboard, crossing my arms. "When Sarah announced she was marrying him, I didn't like it. I'm a surgeon; I look for underlying pathology in everything. So I hired a private investigator."
Vance raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"And Marcus had a history that didn't match the charming, successful real estate developer persona he sold to my sister," I said, a bitter taste rising in my mouth. "He had two failed businesses that went bankrupt under suspicious circumstances—heavy insurance payouts right before the warehouses burned down. There were civil suits for fraud, though he always managed to settle out of court before a judge could dig too deep."
"Financial crimes," Vance noted, pen moving across his pad. "Anything violent?"
"Nothing that ever made it onto a police record," I admitted, cursing myself silently. "That was my mistake. I thought he was just a grifter after our parents' inheritance. Sarah had inherited a trust fund from our mother—not a fortune, but enough to buy a house and land. Marcus burned through it within two years of their marriage. When I tried to warn her, he twisted it. He told her I was looking down on him, that I was a snob who couldn't stand the thought of her being happy."
"And you gave her an ultimatum," Vance said quietly, not unkindly.
"I told her to choose," I whispered, looking down at my hands. "I told her if she stayed with him, she was walking away from me. I thought she'd see through him in a few months and come crawling back. I didn't understand... I didn't understand how completely a man like that can isolate someone."
"Abusers don't need chains, Doctor," Vance said, closing his notebook with a soft snap. "They just need to convince the victim that the rest of the world has already abandoned them. And Marcus had help doing that."
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Before I could answer, the door swung open. A nurse hurried inside, her face pale.
"Doctor Carter, you need to come to room four immediately. Your sister just arrived via ambulance, and she’s asking for you. But... you need to prepare yourself. She's not doing well."
