Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Daniel recovered first.
“Who are you?”
The curtain did not move.
The woman's hand disappeared behind it.
Walter tried to sit higher.
Pain stopped him.
“Eleanor.”
Daniel turned toward his father.
“You know her?”
Walter did not answer.
Claire moved toward the second bed.
“Ma'am, are you comfortable opening the curtain?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Claire respected it.
Daniel did not.
He stepped forward.
“Who is Eleanor?”
Claire blocked his path.
“You don't enter another patient's space without permission.”
“This is my father's room.”
“It is a hospital room.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You already hit me.”
“You were reaching for hospital property after I told you to stop.”
“That's not what happened.”
“It is on camera.”
Attorney Reed finally stood.
“Daniel.”
Daniel turned.
“You know her too.”
Reed adjusted his glasses.
“I know her name.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“No.”
Reed looked toward the curtain.
“Eleanor Price.”
The woman behind it said nothing.
Daniel looked at Walter.
“Who is Eleanor Price?”
Walter whispered:
“Passenger.”
The room went still.
Daniel actually laughed.
“No.”
Walter stared at him.
“She was with me.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“I spoke to the police.”
Walter closed his eyes.
“You were unconscious.”
“They found one person in the car.”
A voice came from behind the curtain.
“They found one person when the second ambulance arrived.”
Daniel turned.
The woman continued.
“I got out.”
Claire moved closer to the curtain.
“You left the vehicle?”
“Yes.”
“Were you walking?”
“I thought I was.”
Her voice sounded tired.
“I remember climbing over the center console. Then the guardrail. Then somebody telling me not to move.”
Claire knew the trauma summary.
An unidentified female patient had been brought in from the same highway section eleven minutes after Walter.
Found approximately eighty yards beyond the vehicle.
Disoriented.
No purse.
No phone.
No identification except a hospital card discovered later in her coat.
She had initially been entered under a separate incident number because the first responding crew thought she had been a pedestrian.
Claire had not connected the two cases.
Neither had the emergency department until that morning.
Daniel looked at his father.
“You told me you were going alone.”
Walter stared at the ceiling.
“I changed my mind.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“Why?”
Walter did not answer.
Daniel looked at Reed.
“Why are you here?”
The attorney took his time.
“Walter had an appointment with me.”
“Yesterday?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“What appointment?”
Reed did not answer.
Client confidentiality still existed even when the client was lying in a hospital bed.
Walter raised his hand weakly.
“Tell him.”
Reed looked at him.
“Are you asking me to disclose the purpose of yesterday's appointment in front of everyone currently in this room?”
Walter looked toward the curtain.
Then Claire.
“Yes.”
Reed nodded.
“You were coming to my office to review an estate amendment.”
Daniel's expression changed again.
There.
Now Claire understood at least part of his fear.
“An amendment involving her?”
Reed did not answer.
Daniel turned toward the curtain.
“Did you put my father up to changing his will?”
The woman's voice came back sharper.
“I didn't know there was a will meeting.”
Walter opened his eyes.
“That's true.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Then why was she in your car?”
Walter stared toward the ceiling.
“Because there was something I should have told you before Grace died.”
Daniel's anger disappeared for half a second.
Grace.
His mother.
Dead nine years.
Then he looked at the bracelet in Claire's hand.
His face went white.
Claire noticed.
“What?”
Daniel pointed.
“That bracelet belonged to my mother.”
Behind the curtain, Eleanor said quietly:
“No.”
Daniel stared.
“It was hers.”
Eleanor answered:
“She wore it.”
May you like
A pause.
“It was mine first.”
