Chapter 4 - The Paper Trail
By 4:15 A.M., the master bedroom of the Barrington house was quiet, lit only by a pair of soft bedside lamps.
Dr. Chen was seated on the edge of the bed beside Lydia. Lydia was wrapped in a thick wool blanket Adrian had pulled from the linen closet, her head resting against Adrian’s shoulder as he sat beside her, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
A small bandage was pressed against the crook of Lydia’s arm where Dr. Chen had drawn three vials of blood.
“The rapid screen confirms high levels of diphenhydramine and a secondary benzodiazepine derivative,” Dr. Chen said softly, holding a portable diagnostic reader in her lap. “It’s a strong prescription sedative commonly used for severe anxiety, but in these doses—especially combined with sleep deprivation and nursing—it produces profound motor impairment, memory fog, and extreme emotional distress.”
Lydia looked up at Adrian, her eyes filled with tears that finally began to spill over her pale cheeks. “I thought... I thought I was losing my mind, Adrian. I thought I was hurting Miles.”
Adrian pressed his lips against her temple, his voice thick with a emotion he had suppressed for months. “You aren't losing your mind, Lyd. You never were. I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry I didn't see it sooner.”
“She told me... she told me if I went to the hospital, they would take him away,” Lydia whispered, her small fingers clutching the sleeve of Adrian’s wool sweater. “She kept bringing me tea and water... every time I drank it, my head felt like it was full of cotton.”
Downstairs in the library, the mood was vastly different.
Gabe Vance sat at Adrian’s mahogany desk, his laptop connected to the house’s local network, pulling down the full archive of nursery camera footage onto three separate external hard drives.
Evelyn was sitting in a high-backed leather chair near the dark fireplace. She had put on her glasses and was holding her phone, her fingers flying across the screen as she dialed her attorney.
“Jonathan,” Evelyn said sharply into the receiver, ignoring Gabe’s presence entirely. “I need you at the Barrington house immediately. Adrian has brought unauthorized people into the residence and is attempting to fabricate an emergency.”
Gabe didn't even look up from his screen. “You might want to tell Mr. Vance to bring his senior partner, Mrs. Harwood. Because the footage I’m currently exporting shows him sitting at your dining table on Tuesday afternoon discussing a fraudulent guardianship petition based on fabricated medical evidence.”
Evelyn’s phone slid three inches down her hand before she caught it. “That is a private legal conversation!”
“It was recorded in a room where you had no expectation of privacy under Rhode Island corporate security installation disclosures,” Gabe said coolly, tapping a key. “Adrian signed the security disclosure when he bought the system. It’s all legal, and it’s all admissible.”
The door to the library opened, and Adrian walked in.
He had changed out of his work coat into a simple black sweater. His face was stone, his eyes cold and fixed on his mother.
“Dr. Chen has completed the blood panel,” Adrian said, sitting down across from Evelyn. “The results are logged, sealed, and sent to the state lab for confirmation.”
Evelyn sat up straight, crossing her ankles with defensive grace. “You are making a tragic mistake, Adrian. I did what I did to protect this family! That girl was dragging you down! Look at your work—you’ve been stressed for months, working night shifts, burning yourself out because she can’t manage a household! I was giving her something to help her sleep!”
“You were poisoning my wife,” Adrian said, his voice dropping into a register that made Evelyn freeze. “You pulled her by her hair onto the floor while she was holding my son. I watched it live on the feed at two o'clock this morning.”
Evelyn opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. For the first time in her sixty-eight years, the absolute conviction that her status would shield her broke down.
“You’re going to leave this house, Mother,” Adrian said, pulling a stack of printed documents from his desk drawer. “Right now.”
“This is my family’s house!” Evelyn snapped, her voice rising into a sharp, bird-like screech. “Your father bought this property with Harwood trust money!”
“My father left this house to me in a secondary trust deed three years before he died,” Adrian replied, laying the deed on the coffee table between them. “You hold a life interest in the Newport estate, which you will move into by noon today. If you step foot on this property again, I will file an emergency restraining order based on the assault footage from two o'clock this morning.”
“You wouldn't dare,” Evelyn whispered, her face pale. “The scandal... the museum board, the society news...”
“I don't care about the museum board, Evelyn,” Adrian said, leaning forward until his face was inches from hers. “And if you try to use Jonathan Vance or Judge Harrison to move that guardianship petition forward, I will deliver this video drive to the state attorney general’s office, the Providence Journal, and every member of your charity committees.”
Evelyn stared at her son. In his eyes, she saw no trace of the obedient, quiet boy who had allowed her to direct his life for thirty years. She saw a man who had completely excised her from his world.
A sudden, sharp knock sounded on the heavy oak front door upstairs.
May you like
Evelyn’s face lit up with a sudden, desperate flash of triumph. She looked at her watch: 8:55 A.M.
“That will be my photographer and the private health evaluation team,” Evelyn said, standing up and smoothing her sweater, her old arrogance rushing back in a frantic wave. “Let’s see how your video holds up when the official report is filed by licensed state assessors!”
