Chapter 2
The emergency-room property sheet was two years old.
The copy was poor.
The handwriting was still readable.
Gold wedding ring — one.
Beside it:
Released at patient request to C. Cross. Witnessed by RN.
Dario read the line three times.
“C. Cross.”
Julia nodded.
“Camilla.”
“She told me she arrived after Elena died.”
“I know.”
Dario looked up.
After the crash, Camilla had been one of the people who stayed closest to him.
She and Elena had been friends for years.
Camilla helped with funeral arrangements.
Helped with the house.
Helped with Elsie while Dario barely slept.
Almost eighteen months later, the relationship changed.
Slowly.
Carefully.
At least that was what Dario had believed.
“When did Elena arrive at the hospital?”
“9:41 p.m.”
“When did she die?”
“11:18.”
“When did I arrive?”
“10:37.”
Dario remembered that night in fragments.
Rain.
A bodyguard driving too fast.
A doctor waiting in the hallway.
Elsie already in pediatric surgery.
Elena unconscious by the time he saw her.
He had been told she briefly regained consciousness before he arrived.
Nobody told him Camilla was there.
Julia placed another record in front of him.
Camilla signed into the emergency department at 9:53.
Twelve minutes after Elena arrived.
“Who called her?”
“We don’t know.”
“Preston?”
“Possible.”
“Where was Preston?”
Julia paused.
“That is another problem.”
Officially, Preston said he was at a restaurant downtown when the crash happened.
But an old security log from Ravello Fleet Services placed his company badge at the South Yard at 8:46 that evening.
The South Yard maintained executive vehicles.
Including Elena’s SUV.
Dario stared at Julia.
“What does the yard have to do with the crash?”
“Maybe nothing.”
“Stop saying maybe.”
“I will stop saying maybe when we have evidence.”
He leaned back.
She continued.
“Right now we know Camilla lied about being at the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“We know Elena gave her the ring.”
“Yes.”
“We do not know why.”
Dario hated that.
But it was true.
The next morning, he asked Dr. Morris for another favor.
Not medical records.
Perspective.
Elsie had begun asking whether Camilla ripped off the brace because she was “bad at walking.”
Dr. Morris crouched beside the child.
“No.”
“Because I need brace?”
“No.”
“Camilla says pretending.”
Dr. Morris shook her head.
“Your brace helps your leg do work your muscles and nerves still need help doing. That is not pretending.”
Elsie looked at Dario.
“Mommy knew?”
Dario swallowed.
“Yes.”
Elena had sat through every early orthopedic consultation before she died.
The crash itself caused the injury.
That knowledge made the ring in Camilla’s drawer feel even uglier.
Later, Julia called with another discovery.
The nurse who had signed Elena’s property sheet still worked at the hospital.
May you like
She remembered the night.
And she remembered Elena giving Camilla the ring.
