Chapter 4 — The House Call

By breakfast I was back to playing the overwhelmed, defeated younger sister. I shuffled into the kitchen looking exhausted.

“I think I’ll take Mom to the hospital for a checkup,” I mumbled, pouring coffee. “Just for my own peace of mind before I head back to the city this afternoon.”

Daniel set down his tablet. His jaw tightened. “That won’t be necessary. Her personal physician is making a house call this morning. In fact, he’s here.”

The doorbell rang. Vanessa practically skipped to answer it and returned with a tall, gaunt man carrying a worn black medical bag.

“Claire, this is Dr. Aris Thorne,” Daniel said, not hiding his smugness. “He oversees Mom’s cognitive care.”

Thorne had the dead, flat eyes of a man who wrote prescriptions for cash. I knew at once he was the one who’d signed the false declaration of incompetence.