Chapter 5 - Maeve Kavanaugh’s Last Order
Emmett stepped from the dark hallway.
Sully stared at him.
“You followed her.”
Emmett looked at Faye.
“I never agreed to stay home.”
Then he faced Sully.
“Start talking.”
Sully slowly lowered his hands.
“Maeve discovered Patrick was stealing from you.”
“We know.”
“No. You know half of it.”
He looked at Emmett.
“Patrick wasn’t protecting your organization. He was preparing to take it.”
Sully explained that Maeve had uncovered Patrick’s plan three years earlier.
She had already been terminally ill.
Patrick feared she would expose him before she died.
So he contacted Vale.
“But Vale didn’t kill her because Patrick ordered him to,” Sully said.
Emmett stared.
“Then why?”
“Maeve asked him to increase her pain medication.”
Faye shook her head.
“That doesn't explain the altered records.”
“No.”
Sully’s voice broke slightly.
“I altered those.”
Emmett’s eyes hardened.
“You?”
“Your mother made me promise you would never know.”
“Why?”
“Because Patrick was watching the hospital.”
Sully looked toward Faye.
“Maeve knew someone had accessed her medical records. She knew Patrick was waiting to see whether she survived long enough to expose him.”
“So you made her death look connected to Vale?”
“I made Patrick believe his plan had worked.”
Emmett took a step forward.
“You let me believe she was murdered.”
“No. You believed she died from cancer.”
“Which was a lie too.”
Sully lowered his head.
“She was dying, Emmett. Days, maybe hours.”
Emmett’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“And you kept her final decisions from me.”
“Because she asked me to.”
“Why?”
Sully looked at him.
“Because she knew exactly what you would do.”
Silence.
“You would have started a war.”
Emmett didn’t deny it.
Sully continued.
“She wanted Patrick watched. She wanted proof. She wanted you free of him without half of Providence burning.”
Emmett turned to Vale.
“And the other patients?”
Vale said nothing.
Faye answered.
“Those were him.”
Sully nodded.
“After Maeve died, Vale realized how easily records could be manipulated. He started selling the service.”
Faye looked sick.
“You showed him how.”
Sully closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
That truth hurt him more than any accusation.
“I thought I was protecting Maeve.”
“And instead you taught a murderer how to hide.”
“Yes.”
Vale suddenly moved toward the door.
Emmett blocked him.
Vale stopped.
Emmett did not touch him.
“You’re finished.”
“You can’t turn me in,” Vale said. “Do you know what I know about you?”
“Probably less than the government does.”
Vale stared.
Emmett smiled faintly.
“I've had an interesting morning.”
Sirens approached outside.
Faye had contacted authorities before entering.
Vale looked toward the window.
Then toward Emmett.
“You’re letting them take me?”
Emmett stepped aside.
“This isn't my judgment to make.”
Faye stared at him.
That decision surprised her.
Perhaps it surprised Emmett too.
Police entered minutes later.
Vale was arrested.
Sully offered his wrists without resistance.
Before officers took him away, he stopped beside Emmett.
“Your mother loved you.”
Emmett looked away.
“I know.”
“She was proud of you.”
“That part I'm less sure about.”
Sully almost smiled.
“She said you were the hardest man in Rhode Island to raise.”
Emmett’s mouth twitched.
“That sounds like her.”
Sully was escorted away.
Faye remained beside Emmett in bed twelve.
After a long silence, she asked:
“What are you going to do now?”
Emmett looked at the empty hospital bed.
“Something my mother wanted me to do three years ago.”
“What?”
May you like
“Change.”
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