PART 4: THE LAST NIGHT OF ARTHUR VANCE Mark’s hand remained frozen on the doorknob. No one spoke. The words Sarah had just said seemed to hang in the room like smoke. Arthur Vance might not have died naturally. Mark slowly turned around. “This is absurd.” Sarah closed her laptop.
“The police disagree.” “You have one recording of an argument.” “We have more than a recording.” Mark released the doorknob. For the first time since entering my house, he looked genuinely frightened. Claire gripped the back of a chair. “What did they find?” Sarah placed Arthur’s dented thermos inside a clear plastic evidence bag. “The recorder was hidden beneath a false bottom. After I discovered the final audio file, I delivered the thermos to investigators.”
“The police finished collecting their samples this morning. They released it to me because Arthur instructed that the recorder be played during the will reading.” I stared at the thermos. I had seen him carry it every day for twenty years. He filled it with black coffee each morning. He took it to doctor appointments. He held it while listening to baseball games on the porch. It had been sitting beside his chair when Claire found him dead. Sarah continued. “The laboratory found traces of a heart medication called digoxin inside the thermos.” Noah frowned. “Grandpa didn’t take digoxin.” “No,” Claire whispered. “He never did.” Sarah nodded. “Arthur’s doctors confirmed that it was not prescribed to him.”“What
does it do?” Lily asked. “In a controlled dose, it can help certain heart conditions. In a large dose, especially when given to an elderly person, it can cause nausea, confusion, an irregular heartbeat, and death.” Claire stumbled backward. I caught her before she fell. “No,” she gasped. “Dad died peacefully.” “We believed he did,” I said. “He was sitting in his chair.” Sarah’s voice softened. “That may have been exactly what someone wanted everyone to believe.” Mark shook his head. “This proves nothing. The old man could have taken the wrong medicine.” “Where would he get medication that was never kept in this house?” Claire demanded. “Maybe David gave it to him.” I moved toward Mark. Noah grabbed my arm. “Dad, don’t.”
Mark pointed at me.
“He hated having Arthur here. Everyone heard the recording.”
“And everyone heard the part you deliberately removed,” Sarah replied.
“A judge will decide what it means.”
“Yes. A judge may also be interested in the fact that you visited Arthur less than twelve hours before his death.”
Mark’s mouth tightened.
“I went to speak with my father.”
“You went to pressure him into changing his will.”
“I wanted him to be fair.”
Sarah reopened her laptop.
“Let’s listen to what Arthur considered fair.”
She selected the complete recording from 8:43 that night.
Arthur’s voice came first.
“Sarah, it’s Arthur. He came to the house again. He knows I changed the will.”
In the background, Mark shouted.
“You should have given us the money when you had the chance, Dad.”
“You tried to take it without my permission.”
“That was twenty years ago.”
“A thief does not become innocent simply because time passes.”
“You gave everything to a man who despises you.”
“David lost his temper.”
“He called you dead weight.”
“And then he returned with a blanket.”
“He wants your money.”
“David does not know I have money.”
“He’ll throw you out the second he gets what he wants.”
“For twenty years, David believed I had nothing. He still fed me.”
A loud crash echoed from the speakers.
Claire flinched.
Arthur cried out.
Then Mark spoke again, much closer to the recorder.
“Sign the new will.”
“No.”
“You owe your real children.”
“My real child is the one who gave me a home without asking for my bank statement.”
“You’re a stubborn old fool.”
“And you are still the frightened little boy who believes money will make him important.”
Mark’s voice became cold.
“You’ll regret this.”
“No, Mark. I regret that I spent so many years making excuses for you.”
A door slammed.
The recording continued.
For nearly a minute, we heard only Arthur’s heavy breathing.
Then he whispered to himself.
“I should wake David.”
My heart twisted.
He had almost come inside to find me.
If he had, perhaps I could have protected him.
Instead, Arthur remained on the porch.
The faint sound of a baseball announcer filled the background.
Sarah paused the recording.
“According to the time stamp, Mark left at 9:07.”
Mark straightened his coat.
“Then you just proved I didn’t kill him.”
“I proved you threatened him.”
“Threatening is not murder.”
“No,” Sarah agreed. “It isn’t.”
She moved the cursor farther along the recording.
“But the recorder continued running.” The time displayed on the screen changed to 10:16 p.m. A door creaked open. Arthur’s radio went silent. Footsteps crossed the porch. Then Arthur spoke. “What are you doing here?” A man answered quietly. “I came to apologize.” The voice was difficult to recognize. There was too much static. Arthur coughed. “How did you get into the house?” “The spare key was beneath the flowerpot.” Claire covered her mouth. Only family members knew about that key. “I removed it years ago,” I whispered. “No,” Claire replied. “Dad asked me to put it back in case he ever fell while we were away.” The unknown visitor pulled out a chair. “I heard you changed the will.” “That is my private business.” “Mark said David gets everything.” “Mark should not know that.” “He hired someone at the law office.” Sarah’s eyes widened. “That explains the leak.” The visitor continued. “I don’t want everything. I only need eighty thousand dollars.” Arthur sighed. “No.” “I will pay it back.” “No.” “They’re going to hurt me.” “Then let me call the police.” “I can’t go to the police.”“I can arrange treatment. I can help you enter
a gambling program.” “I don’t need treatment. I need money.” I looked across the room. Kevin’s face had lost all color. His gambling debts. His sworn statement.
His sudden willingness to blame Mark for everything.
Claire stared at him.
“Kevin?”
He backed away.
“That could be anyone.”
Sarah raised one finger, warning everyone to remain quiet.
On the recording, Arthur stood from his chair.
“Go home, Kevin.”
Brenda let out a strangled sob.
Kevin shook his head.
“No. That isn’t me.”
His own recorded voice continued.
“I helped you once, Dad.”
“You helped your brother forge my signature.”
“I stopped the transfer.”
“Because the bank had already discovered it.”
“I signed the statement that cleared Claire.”
“You signed it because Mark planned to blame everything on you.”
Kevin’s breathing became rapid.
“They were going to kill me over the debt.”
“I will help you face them legally.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand that giving you money will only delay the next threat.”
A chair scraped across the porch.
Kevin began crying on the recording.
“I’m your son.”
“Yes.”
“Then save me.”
“I have tried to save you for twenty years. You must choose to save yourself.”
There was a long silence.
Then Arthur said, “Put down my thermos.”
A metallic clink came through the speakers.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“You opened it.”
“I was going to wash it.”
“At ten o’clock at night?”
“I was trying to help.”
“Put it down, Kevin.”
“I said I was helping!”
Something struck the table.
Arthur gasped.
Then we heard footsteps rushing away.
The back door slammed.
Sarah stopped the recording.
Everyone looked at Kevin.
He stood near the hallway, shaking violently.
“That still doesn’t prove anything.”
Claire’s voice was barely audible.
“What did you put in Dad’s thermos?”
“Nothing.”
“The laboratory found crushed heart medicine inside it.”
“I didn’t have heart medicine.”
Sarah pulled a pharmacy record from the red folder.
“Your late wife did.”
Kevin stopped shaking.
His entire body became still.
Sarah placed the record beside Arthur’s ledger.
“Your wife was prescribed digoxin during the final year of her life. According to the pharmacy, sixty tablets were dispensed three weeks before she passed away.”
“That was twelve years ago.”
“And you never returned the unused medication.”
“I threw it away.”
“Investigators searched your trash?”
“No.”
“Then how can you prove that?”
Kevin looked toward Mark.
“Tell them.”
Mark stepped away from him.
“Tell them what?”
“You sent me there.”
Mark’s eyebrows lifted.
“I did no such thing.”
“You called me after you left Dad’s house. You said he was giving everything to David.”
“I told you what happened. I never told you to poison him.”
“I didn’t poison him!”
Brenda started sobbing.
“You opened his thermos.”
“To wash it.”
“No one believes that,” Noah said.
Kevin pointed at Mark.
“He planned everything. He knew about the will. He knew Dad kept documents in that blue ledger.”
Mark’s expression changed.
“What documents?”
Kevin looked at the ledger on the coffee table.
For one second, something silent passed between the brothers.
Sarah noticed it.
“So did I.
“What is inside the ledger that you haven’t told us about?” I asked.
Kevin shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you staring at it?”
“I’m not.”
Sarah placed one hand on the book.
“Arthur’s expense records fill only two-thirds of these pages. The final section is sealed.”
She turned the ledger over.
A thin strip of blue paper had been glued across the last fifty pages.
Arthur had written a warning on it.
TO BE OPENED ONLY AFTER MY WILL IS READ.
Mark took a step forward.
Sarah pulled the ledger closer to herself.
“No one touches this.”
The doorbell rang.
Three slow knocks followed.
Mark looked toward the door.
“Who is that?”
“The detectives assigned to Arthur’s case,” Sarah answered. “They asked to be notified when the entire family was present.”
Kevin ran.
He shoved Brenda aside and sprinted down the hallway.
Noah chased him.
“Stop!”
A door slammed.
I rushed after them.
Kevin had locked himself inside the downstairs bathroom.
I pounded on the door.
“Open it!”
The bathroom window shattered.
Noah kicked the door near the handle.
It burst open.
Cold air rushed through the broken window.
Kevin was gone.
The detectives entered the front hallway as I climbed halfway through the window.
One of them shouted into her radio.
“Suspect fleeing east from the residence!”
Police sirens erupted outside.
Sarah returned to the living room.
Then she screamed.
We all ran back.
The coffee table was empty.
Arthur’s blue ledger had disappeared.
Mark was still standing beside the front door.
Brenda was crying near the fireplace.
Lily was staring at the open back door.
“Kevin took it,” she whispered.
My phone suddenly rang.
UNKNOWN CALLER.
I answered and put it on speaker.
Kevin’s breathless voice came through.
“David, listen carefully.”
“Where are you?”
“Arthur lied to all of you.”
“Bring back the ledger.”
“I opened the sealed pages.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“What do they say?”
Kevin laughed bitterly.
“The will you just read is worthless.”
“That isn’t true.”
“There’s another document hidden inside the back cover.”
Mark moved toward the phone.
“What document?”
Kevin ignored him.
“If you want the ledger back, come to Dad’s old house at midnight.”
“The police are looking for you.”
“Then don’t bring them.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because Arthur wrote one final name in that ledger.”
My heart began pounding.
“What name?”
“The person who was supposed to receive the entire $3.2 million.”
I looked at Claire.
Sarah shook her head.
“Arthur’s signed will leaves everything to you, David.”
Kevin’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Who does it leave the money to?”
There was a long silence.
Then Kevin answered.
“Arthur left everything to the child no one in this room knew existed.”
The call ended….
