I ordered my hand.
Move.
A spark of sensation appeared in my right thumb.
I pushed harder.
The thumb twitched.
Barely.
No one noticed.
I tried again.
My fingernail scraped the satin.
It produced the faintest sound.
Victoria stopped crying.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” the employee asked.
“Nothing,” Harrison answered quickly. “She’s overwhelmed.”
The machinery started again.
The coffin moved forward.
The heat intensified.
I scraped my thumb against the lining once more.
The sound was too soft.
The furnace door began opening.
Then a crash thundered through the room.
A door slammed against the wall.
Footsteps raced across the floor.
A man shouted, “STOP!”
The machinery halted.
Everyone began talking at once.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sir, you can’t—”
“Turn it off!”
My heart surged.
I knew that voice.
Owen.
Victoria sounded shocked. “You weren’t invited.”
“I don’t care.”
Harrison stepped forward. “He’s grieving. Get him out of here.”
Owen roared over them all.
“TURN OFF THAT FURNACE—ETHAN IS ALIVE, AND I HAVE VICTORIA AND VANCE ON TAPE ADMITTING THEY DRUGGED HIM!”
Silence followed.
A deep, absolute silence.
Then Victoria whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Part Six: What Owen Found
The crematorium employee immediately shut down the system.
Harrison tried to take control.
“This man is unstable,” he said. “Ethan was examined and legally declared dead.”
“By you,” Owen replied. “The same doctor whose voice is on this recording.”
“You have no idea what you heard.”
“I heard you discuss the drug, the forged heart report, and the plan to destroy Ethan before an autopsy could expose you.”
Victoria’s breathing became uneven.
“That recording was destroyed.”
Owen’s voice sharpened.
“So you admit there was one?”
She said nothing.
I heard a small plastic object strike a metal table.
“The cleaning crew hadn’t collected the rear service bins,” Owen said. “I found the broken recorder in a bag outside the mansion. You removed the main memory card, Harrison, but you forgot that Ethan used recorders with an automatic backup chip.”
Harrison swore under his breath.
Owen continued, “I repaired enough of it to recover the last conversation recorded in Ethan’s study.”
Victoria tried to leave.
Owen blocked her.
“The police are outside.”
Harrison said, “This is absurd. A damaged recording proves nothing.”
“Then open the coffin.”
“No,” Victoria snapped.
Everyone froze.
The crematorium employee asked, “Why wouldn’t we open it?”
“Because…” Victoria stammered. “Because it would be disrespectful.”
Owen stepped toward the coffin.
“Ethan would rather be disrespected than burned alive.”
The lid was locked for transport.
Someone fumbled with the mechanism.
Seconds dragged by.
At last, the seal released.
