Chapter 9 - The Anatomy of Greed
By midnight, the storm had passed, leaving the night sky clear, cold, and filled with sharp, distant stars.
Inside the private room at St. Jude’s Memorial Hospital, Clara rested under thick white duvets. The color was slowly returning to her cheeks as the IV fluids neutralized the toxins in her system.
Sheriff Brody sat in a chair beside the bed, holding a notepad, while Toby slept peacefully on a small cot in the corner of the room, his hand still holding his mother's slipper.
"He wanted the trust," Clara said softly, her voice still hoarse from the damage to her vocal cords. "My grandfather... left a three-million-dollar land trust... that unlocked on my thirty-fifth birthday... or upon my death to my legal spouse."
"We checked his personal finances an hour ago," Sheriff Brody revealed, shaking his head. "Arthur was deep in debt. High-stakes online gambling, bad real estate investments in South America. He owed over eight hundred thousand dollars to private collectors who were threatening his life."
"He started giving me special herbal teas two weeks ago," Clara whispered, tears glistening in her dark eyes as she looked at her sleeping son. "He said it was to help me sleep... because I was feeling fatigued. I didn't suspect a thing. He was so attentive... so gentle..."
"He almost pulled it off," Brody said grimly. "If he had buried that casket in the family plot tomorrow morning as planned..."
Brody trailed off, unable to voice the horrifying reality.
"It was Toby," Clara murmured, a soft, profound smile breaking through her exhaustion. "How did he know, Sheriff? How did a child know she was still breathing?"
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Brody looked over at the small boy sleeping on the cot, his yellow slicker hanging over the back of a chair.
"The mortician said when they brought the casket to the chapel early this morning, the room was completely silent for two hours," Brody explained gently. "Your boy didn't stay at his uncle's house like Arthur told him to. He walked three miles through the woods in the dark to get to the funeral home because he wanted to say goodbye to you alone."
