Chapter 5: What Carol Knew
Carol arrived forty-seven minutes later with her coat still half-buttoned and a look on her face that told Madeline she had driven the whole way prepared to be furious.
She stopped in the doorway.
Took in the IV, the monitor, the hospital gown.
"Maddie."
"I'm okay.
Close the door."
Carol closed it.
She crossed the room and took Madeline's hand in both of hers, and for a moment neither of them said anything.
Then Carol said, "Tell me."
Madeline told her.
All of it — the milk, the bottle, Poppy's testimony, the insurance policy, the second document, the name on Preston's phone screen.
Carol sat on the edge of the bed and listened without interrupting, which was unusual enough that Madeline noticed it.
When she finished, Carol was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "I need to tell you something."
Madeline looked at her.
"I saw them together." Carol's voice was careful.
"Preston and Serena.
In March.
I was driving back from the hardware store on Clement Street and I saw them coming out of that wine bar on the corner — the one with the green awning.
They were close.
Not touching, but close.
The way people stand when they don't want to be seen but they're not quite careful enough yet."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I'd said things about Preston before and you'd defended him.
Because I didn't have proof, just a feeling.
Because I was afraid you'd pull away from me and then you'd have no one." Carol's jaw tightened.
"I've been angry at myself about it ever since."
"Carol—"
"Don't tell me it's fine.
It's not fine.
I should have said something."
"If you'd said something, I would have asked Preston and he would have explained it away and I would have believed him." Madeline squeezed her sister's hand.
"That's not your fault.
That's what he does."
Carol looked at the door.
"Where is he now?"
"Somewhere in the building.
Ruiz asked him to stay available."
"And Serena?"
"I don't know.
Her phone kept calling him while he was in this room.
He rejected it twice."
Carol stood up.
She paced to the window and back, the way she always had when she was thinking hard.
"The second document you signed.
The one you don't remember."
"I've been trying to place it.
It was on the same day as the insurance update.
He handed me two things.
I signed both.
I remember thinking the second one looked different — not an insurance form.
More like a legal document.
Heavier paper."
"Could it have been a will amendment?
A power of attorney?"
Madeline went still.
"If he had power of attorney," Carol said quietly, "and something happened to you—"
"He could make decisions.
Medical decisions.
Financial decisions."
They looked at each other.
"I need to get into that filing cabinet," Madeline said.
"I know." Carol picked up her bag.
"Give me your house key."
"Preston will be here—"
"Preston is here at the hospital." Carol held out her hand.
"Your house key, Maddie."
Madeline hesitated for only a second.
Then she reached to the small drawer in the bedside table where the nurse had placed her belongings, found her keys, and pressed the house key into Carol's palm.
"The filing cabinet is in the study.
Left side of the room when you walk in.
The key to it is on a small hook inside the kitchen cabinet above the coffee maker — Preston didn't know I had a copy made." She paused.
"Take photographs of everything.
Don't move anything."
"I know how to do this."
"I know you do."
Carol buttoned her coat the rest of the way.
She was almost at the door when Madeline said her name.
"Carol.
If Serena is there—"
"She won't be."
"But if she is—"
"Then I'll call Ruiz from the front step before I go in." Carol's voice was flat and certain.
"I'm not twenty-two anymore.
I know when to call for help."
She left.
Madeline lay back against the pillow and stared at the ceiling.
The room felt different without another person in it.
Smaller.
The monitor beeped.
The IV dripped.
She thought about Poppy in the family room down the hall, probably asleep by now with her rabbit tucked under her chin.
She thought about the wine bar on Clement Street with the green awning.
She thought about Serena sitting across from her at the kitchen table six weeks ago, asking how things were with Preston, listening with that careful, sympathetic expression while Madeline said things were fine, a little distant maybe, but fine.
*She was asking to know how much I suspected,* Madeline thought.
*Not because she cared.*
Her phone was on the bedside table.
Ruiz had returned it before leaving the room.
Madeline picked it up.
There were eleven missed calls from Preston.
Three from a number she didn't recognize.
And one text from Serena, sent at 4:47 that afternoon — forty minutes after the ambulance had been called.
*Thinking of you.
Let me know if there's anything I can do.*
Madeline stared at it.
Then she took a screenshot and sent it to Carol without a message.
Three seconds later, Carol replied with a single word.
*Noted.*
The door opened a crack.
Detective Ruiz leaned in.
"Your husband is asking to leave the building.
I've asked him to remain available and he's agreed, but I can't hold him here without cause yet." She paused.
"The bottle is on its way to the lab.
We'll have preliminary results by morning."
"He'll go to Serena."
"Probably." Ruiz's expression didn't change.
"That's not necessarily a bad thing."
Madeline thought about that.
"You're watching her," she said.
Ruiz didn't confirm it.
She also didn't deny it.
"Try to sleep," she said.
"Your sister has my number.
And Mrs.
Madeline — you did the right thing telling me everything."
She pulled the door closed.
Madeline set her phone face-up on the blanket and watched the screen go dark.
Somewhere across the city, Preston was getting into his car.
She wondered if he was calling Serena already, or if he was smart enough to wait.
May you like
She wondered which of them had come up with the plan first.
She wondered if it had ever been only one of them.
