I knelt beside my mother-in-law. I didn’t ask permission. I grabbed her wrist and pressed my fingers against her radial artery.

Her pulse was perfectly regular. Strong, bounding, sitting at about eighty beats a minute. Her skin was warm and dry — no diaphoresis, no cold sweat of shock.

Her lips were perfectly pink, well oxygenated.

“Let go of her!” Richard snarled, reaching for my arm.

I shot him a look that stopped him dead. “Interfere with a medical assessment, Richard, and I’ll add assault to the fraud charges.”

I leaned down until my mouth was inches from Patricia’s ear.