The Best Man
Chapter 09 - The Best Man
Peter Lang was not a psychiatrist.
That was the first surprise.
He was a neurologist who had lost his hospital privileges two years earlier after accusations of improper billing.
The second surprise was worse.
Peter had invested in Whitmore Development.
Claire stared at his photograph on Margaret’s laptop.
She remembered him raising a champagne glass at the wedding.
To Ethan and Claire. May you always be stronger together than apart.
The words made her sick now.
Officer Reyes obtained records showing Peter had received payments from one of Ethan’s shell companies.
But Peter denied creating the evaluation.
“I never wrote that,” he told investigators.
Margaret believed him.
Claire did not.
Then Peter asked to speak to her privately.
They met in Margaret’s office.
Peter looked older than Claire remembered.
“I should have stopped him,” he said.
Claire folded her arms.
“Stopped what?”
“Ethan.”
Peter explained that two years earlier, Ethan had begun asking strange questions.
Could a spouse be declared mentally incompetent during a financial investigation?
Could stress-related memory loss be documented retroactively?
Could a physician’s letter influence a court?
“I told him no,” Peter said.
Claire’s voice hardened.
“But you kept taking his money.”
Peter looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“Did you write the report?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Peter hesitated.
Margaret leaned forward.
“Dr. Lang.”
Peter looked at Claire.
“Your sister.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“Nora?”
Peter nodded.
“She drafted the history. Ethan brought it to me and asked me to sign. I refused.”
Claire stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.
Nora Bell was Claire’s older sister.
Her only sister.
The person who had held Claire’s hand at their mother’s funeral.
The person who had warned Claire not to marry Ethan.
The person who had recently told Claire she was becoming paranoid.
Claire called her.
Nora answered on the second ring.
“Claire?”
Claire’s voice was shaking.
“Did you help Ethan make me look insane?”
Silence.
Then Nora whispered.
“I was trying to save you.”
Claire closed her eyes.
May you like
There are betrayals that arrive like knives.
And there are betrayals that arrive sounding like love.
