Chapter 8
Edwin Vale came to the mansion willingly.
That surprised me.
Then I understood why.
He thought expertise would protect him.
Men who spend decades being consulted often confuse being useful with being untouchable.
He sat in my study.
Calm.
“I heard there was an unfortunate incident.”
Unfortunate.
Good start.
“Did you advise Tove to observe Mireya during a breathing episode?”
“I advised objective observation.”
“Did you tell her the conservatory might provoke distress?”
His eyes sharpened.
There.
Not denial.
“I said the environment could reveal whether anxiety played a role.”
I stared.
“Without her treating physician?”
He folded his hands.
“Families sometimes need independent assessment.”
“Not through secret exposure.”
Silence.
I did not ask for technical details.
I did not need them.
The moral failure was enough.
He had turned a child into a test subject inside a family dispute.
“Did you take the photograph?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“One of Chase’s men.”
Of course.
“Did you know it would be planted in Margaret’s handbag?”
Pause.
“Yes.”
There.
He had designed not just observation.
Narrative.
If Mireya’s episode looked mild, Margaret becomes hysterical.
If the photograph appears in her bag, Margaret becomes scheming.
Then Edwin arrives with calm language and a “neutral” opinion.
The entire thing was staged to make care look like manipulation.
I looked at him.
“You built a diagnosis around the conclusion Tove wanted.”
His composure finally cracked.
“That is unfair.”
“No.”
May you like
I kept my voice low.
“It is exact.”
