Chapter 1 - The Call About Her Will
The call came three months after my divorce.
I was reviewing quarterly forecasts when Nathan Price—the attorney who had finalized the end of my marriage—said something that made every number on my screen disappear.
“Ethan, Clara is expediting her last will and testament.”
I stood so quickly my chair struck the wall.
“Why?”
A pause.
“She instructed me to deliver a sealed letter to you upon her death.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Her death?”
Nathan exhaled slowly.
“I think you need to find her.”
Clara had moved out of our Seattle townhouse immediately after the divorce. She left me the dining set, the photographs, and nearly every object we had chosen together.
She took only clothing, a cedar jewelry box, and the small white blanket she had bought after our first pregnancy.
I had not spoken to her since the courthouse.
At her new apartment, nobody answered.
The building manager finally opened the door after I claimed there was a medical emergency.
The apartment was almost empty.
Prescription bottles lined the kitchen counter.
A hospital discharge bracelet lay in the trash.
Oncology instructions were folded beside the sink.
My knees weakened.
The unexplained charges from our marriage suddenly returned to me.
Specialists.
Laboratories.
A pharmacy near Lake Union.
I had accused Clara of hiding money.
She had been hiding treatment.
The fourth hospital I called confirmed she was inside Seattle Mercy’s oncology ward.
I reached the floor less than forty minutes later.
Through the glass doors, I saw her collapse near the wall.
Her IV bag dropped onto the polished floor.
A man caught her before she fell.
Ben Carter.
My best friend.
His arm held her shoulders.
May you like
His other hand gripped hers.
Something inside me broke before either of them saw me.
