Daniel remained silent.
Then he admitted he’d discovered a statement written by the third woman.
She had described how her concerns were dismissed even after she’d reported troubling changes in her health.
I asked Daniel a question I’d avoided.
“If I hadn’t discovered the bottle, would you eventually have told me?”
There was a long silence.
Finally, he whispered, “I don’t know.”
Those words told me everything.
Weeks later, I returned to the mansion with Helen and someone assisting with our separation arrangements.
I wasn’t returning to reconcile.
I wanted my books, my mother’s photographs, and the handmade quilt Helen and I had sewn together years earlier.
Daniel waited in the entrance hall.
He looked older than I remembered.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Better.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I’m glad.”
He told me Dr. Cole had been removed from the research program pending further review and that the clinical trial had been suspended.
