Chapter 13 - Daniel Finally Learned What Happened The Night His Father Died
I eventually asked Mom the question I had been avoiding.
“Did the argument cause Dad’s death?”
She closed her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
That was the only honest answer.
She described the final evening.
Dad received the museum packet.
He confronted her in his study.
He accused her of hiding her ownership interest.
Mom accused him of humiliating her.
They argued for nearly forty minutes.
Dad said he would notify the foundation board in the morning.
Mom told him:
“If you do this publicly, everyone will think I stole from you.”
Dad answered:
“Then tell them the truth before they have to guess.”
Mom left the study crying.
Dad stayed behind.
About an hour later, she returned.
He was on the floor beside his desk.
She called 911.
There was no physical fight.
No blow.
No pushed staircase.
No poison.
Nothing supporting murder.
Dad’s cardiologist later explained that severe emotional stress could have contributed to cardiac demand.
But Dad’s underlying disease was advanced enough that the event could have happened during sleep, exercise, anger, or nothing obvious at all.
I wanted a cleaner answer.
There wasn’t one.
Mom’s misconduct created the argument.
The argument happened shortly before his death.
That did not make her his killer.
It made the last night of their marriage painful and dishonest.
Sometimes reality is less dramatic than murder and more difficult to forgive.
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Because there is no villainous act that explains everything.
Only people making selfish choices until tragedy arrives beside them.
