Chapter 5 - The Yellow Sunflower
Clara wanted no more secrets.
From her hospital bed, she demanded every file.
Every photograph.
Every detail.
Julian initially refused.
“You need rest.”
“I need the truth.”
“Clara—”
“For two years everyone decided what I could handle.”
That stopped him.
She was right.
So Julian told her everything.
Marcus.
Raymond.
Shepherd.
The thirty-seven orders.
The hospital watcher.
Clara listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she reached beneath her pillow and pulled out a small notebook.
“I think I know something.”
Julian sat closer.
“Before my diagnosis, Derek started asking strange questions.”
“What questions?”
“Whether I still had access to your chambers.”
Julian frowned.
“He asked whether your signature stamp was still kept in the credenza.”
“How would he know that?”
“Because I told him years ago.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“He also asked about county insurance.”
“When?”
“About six months ago.”
Two months before her diagnosis.
That changed everything.
“Why would he ask before you were sick?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara flipped through the notebook.
“I started writing down every unusual conversation after I left him.”
She handed it over.
One entry stood out.
Derek: “If something happens to you, Alba belongs with me.”
Another:
Derek asked whether Dad’s retirement changes access to sealed cases.
Another:
Saw D. meeting man with sunflower pin.
Julian stopped.
“Sunflower?”
“Yes.”
“Describe it.”
“Small gold pin.”
Julian looked across the room.
Alba’s drawing was taped beside Clara’s bed.
A giant sunflower.
Coincidence.
Probably.
But the word bothered him.
Torres arrived an hour later.
Julian showed her the entry.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She opened an evidence photograph recovered from Marcus’s desk.
Among his belongings was a small gold pin.
A sunflower.
Julian stared.
“Shepherd’s symbol?”
“Maybe.”
Then Alba entered with Evelyn.
The child ran to Clara.
Julian smiled.
But Alba stopped when she saw the photograph.
“That’s Mr. Flower.”
Every adult froze.
Clara sat upright.
“What did you say?”
Alba pointed.
“Mr. Flower.”
Julian crouched.
“Who is Mr. Flower?”
“The man Daddy talks to.”
“Where?”
“At Daddy’s office.”
Clara looked horrified.
“How many times did you see him?”
Alba shrugged.
“A lot.”
“What does he look like?”
“Old.”
“Older than me?”
Alba studied Julian seriously.
“No. You’re more old.”
Despite everything, Evelyn nearly laughed.
Julian continued.
“Anything else?”
“He has white hair.”
“Glasses?”
“Yes.”
“Tall?”
She nodded.
“Did he ever talk to you?”
Alba’s smile disappeared.
“One time.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Mommy was going away.”
Clara’s hand tightened around the blanket.
“When?”
“Before Mommy got sick.”
Julian’s eyes met Torres’s.
Before Clara got sick.
“What exactly did he say?”
Alba thought carefully.
“He said Daddy shouldn’t worry because soon Mommy wouldn’t be a problem.”
Nobody spoke.
Clara looked terrified.
Torres closed the door.
The case had just changed again.
Until now, everyone assumed Derek exploited Clara’s cancer after learning about it.
But Alba remembered a conversation before the diagnosis.
A conversation suggesting Derek and the mysterious man expected something to happen to Clara.
Julian stood.
“We need Clara’s complete medical timeline.”
Clara stared at him.
“Dad, what are you thinking?”
He didn’t answer.
Because the possibility forming in his mind was too disturbing to say aloud.
May you like
Maybe Derek had not simply taken advantage of Clara’s illness.
Maybe someone had known she would become sick before she did.
