Part Four: The Final Goodbye
The ride ended sooner than I expected.
Doors opened.
The coffin rolled down a ramp.
The air changed. I could no longer smell the chapel’s flowers or polished wood.
Instead, I smelled metal, dust, and heat.
A crematorium employee spoke in a respectful tone.
“Mrs. Cole, would you like one final private moment before we proceed?”
“Yes,” Victoria said. “Dr. Vance is family. I’d like him to stay.”
The employee hesitated.
“Of course.”
A door closed.
Once again, I was alone with the two people who had tried to kill me.
Victoria released a breath.
“I hated that service.”
“You were convincing,” Harrison said.
“I had to be. Half the company board was watching me.”
“They believe you.”
“They’d better.”
The coffin lid creaked slightly as Victoria rested her hand on it.
“Do you think he knew?” she asked.
“Knew what?”
“About us.”
“No.”
“What about the financial transfers?”
Harrison paused.
“He had started asking questions.”
My thoughts raced.
Two weeks earlier, my chief financial officer had told me that money was moving through a consulting account I didn’t recognize.
When I asked Victoria about it, she claimed it was related to a charity project.
Harrison had advised me to take time away from work because stress was affecting my heart.
They had been buying time.
Preparing.
Victoria lowered her voice.
“I still can’t believe you kept the recorder.”
“I destroyed it.”
“You said you threw it away.”
“After I smashed it.”
“What about the memory card?”
“I removed it.”
“Where is it?”
Another pause.
“In my office.”
“You should have destroyed that too.”
“I will after this.”
My heart seemed to stop.
A recorder.
They had recorded something.
Perhaps my medical readings.
Perhaps forged instructions.
Perhaps their conversations.
Whatever it was, they believed it could hurt them.
Victoria asked, “And the empty vial?”
“I put it in the garbage bag with the broken recorder. The trash was collected from the mansion early this morning.”
She gave a nervous laugh.
“Then there’s nothing left.”
Harrison’s reply was cold.
“In a few minutes, there won’t be.”
Part Five: The Furnace
The crematorium employee returned.
“We’re ready, Mrs. Cole.”
Victoria began crying instantly.
“Please take care of him.”
“We will.”
The coffin moved again.
This time, the sound was different.
Not wheels over carpet.
Metal rollers.
A mechanical hum.
Heat pressed through the wood around me.
The furnace was close.
Too close.
I thought of all the things I had never said.
I thought of the employees who had trusted me.
I thought of my father teaching me to identify bourbon by scent.
I thought of Owen standing beside me at our mother’s grave, both of us promising that nothing would ever divide us.
Then I thought of the final conversation I had with him.
I had hung up while he was still speaking.
Regret hurt more than fear.
The machinery stopped.
A button beeped.
The furnace roared to life.
The sound filled the room like a storm.
Someone began reading a checklist.
Victoria sniffled behind me.
Harrison said nothing.
I gathered every bit of strength left inside me.
Move.
I ordered my hand.
Move.
A spark of sensation appeared in my right thumb.
I pushed harder.
The thumb twitched.
Barely.
No one noticed.
I tried again.
My fingernail scraped the satin.
It produced the faintest sound.
Victoria stopped crying.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” the employee asked.
“Nothing,” Harrison answered quickly. “She’s overwhelmed.”
The machinery started again.
The coffin moved forward.
The heat intensified.
I scraped my thumb against the lining once more.
The sound was too soft.
The furnace door began opening.
Then a crash thundered through the room.
A door slammed against the wall.
Footsteps raced across the floor.
A man shouted, “STOP!”
The machinery halted.
Everyone began talking at once.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sir, you can’t—”
“Turn it off!”
My heart surged.
I knew that voice.
Owen.
Victoria sounded shocked. “You weren’t invited.”
“I don’t care.”
Harrison stepped forward. “He’s grieving. Get him out of here.”
Owen roared over them all.
“TURN OFF THAT FURNACE—ETHAN IS ALIVE, AND I HAVE VICTORIA AND VANCE ON TAPE ADMITTING THEY DRUGGED HIM!”
Silence followed.
A deep, absolute silence.
Then Victoria whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Part Six: What Owen Found
The crematorium employee immediately shut down the system.
Harrison tried to take control.
“This man is unstable,” he said. “Ethan was examined and legally declared dead.”
“By you,” Owen replied. “The same doctor whose voice is on this recording.”
“You have no idea what you heard.”
“I heard you discuss the drug, the forged heart report, and the plan to destroy Ethan before an autopsy could expose you.”
Victoria’s breathing became uneven.
“That recording was destroyed.”
Owen’s voice sharpened.
“So you admit there was one?”
She said nothing.
I heard a small plastic object strike a metal table.
“The cleaning crew hadn’t collected the rear service bins,” Owen said. “I found the broken recorder in a bag outside the mansion. You removed the main memory card, Harrison, but you forgot that Ethan used recorders with an automatic backup chip.”
Harrison swore under his breath.
Owen continued, “I repaired enough of it to recover the last conversation recorded in Ethan’s study.”
Victoria tried to leave.
Owen blocked her.
“The police are outside.”
Harrison said, “This is absurd. A damaged recording proves nothing.”
“Then open the coffin.”
“No,” Victoria snapped.
Everyone froze.
The crematorium employee asked, “Why wouldn’t we open it?”
“Because…” Victoria stammered. “Because it would be disrespectful.”
Owen stepped toward the coffin.
“Ethan would rather be disrespected than burned alive.”
The lid was locked for transport.
Someone fumbled with the mechanism.
Seconds dragged by.
At last, the seal released.
Cooler air touched my face.
“Ethan?” Owen said.
I tried to move.
Nothing happened.
Harrison spoke immediately.
“You see? He’s dead.”
Owen leaned closer.
His hand touched my wrist.
“Come on, big brother.”
I gathered everything inside me.
My thumb moved.
Once.
Then again.
Owen sucked in a breath.
“He moved.”
“That could be a reflex,” Harrison said.
My eyelid trembled.
Then, with enormous effort, I opened my eyes a fraction.
The world appeared as a blur of white light and terrified faces.
Victoria stood near the doorway.
The color had vanished from her skin.
Harrison took one step backward.
Owen looked down at me, tears filling his eyes.
“I knew you wouldn’t leave without arguing with me one more time.”