Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WHO HELPED BURY MY WIFEMy mother was arrested two days later.
Beatrice too.
I watched the interrogation through glass.
Teresa kept saying:
“I was protecting my family.”
That phrase again.
Protecting.
By locking Clara inside.
By destroying her phone.
By helping rush the funeral.
Protecting whom?
Eventually she admitted the truth.
Dad’s medical care was expensive.
Vanguard paid for it.
Beatrice's funeral home depended on company contracts.
Derek had debt.
Teresa believed if Clara exposed Vance, everyone would lose everything.
“So you chose Clara.”
My mother cried.
“No.”
“You chose everyone except Clara.”
She looked at me.
“I thought they would scare her.”
I laughed bitterly.
“She died afraid.”
Teresa collapsed.
For the first time, I saw remorse.
It didn't make me feel better.
Beatrice confessed to falsifying preparation records and pressuring the burial schedule.
Dr. Evans, the coroner, had altered the preliminary report.
He was arrested.
The entire town began cracking.
Not dramatically.
Bank accounts froze.
Officials resigned.
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Employees stopped answering Vance calls.
Power looked permanent until people stopped cooperating with it.
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