It started with a phone call.
"St. Augustine's, Palliative Care, this is Nurse Mendoza speaking."
"Hi. Uh… my name's Daniel Park. My father, Hyun Park, passed away here three months ago. ALS. I… I just had a few questions."
Cara's fingers tightened around the phone.
Daniel's father. The one Eliot had said was in unbearable pain. The one who died peacefully in his sleep after "a sudden turn." Too sudden, Cara now realized.
"Of course," she said. "What can I help you with?"
There was a pause on the other end. Hesitant.
"It's just… I found his end-of-life meds while clearing his old room," Daniel said. "And I know he was on morphine, but the label said Potassium Chloride IV. That's… that's not part of his treatment plan, right?"
Cara's throat dried.
"Well…" she began carefully, "potassium is sometimes used for cardiac patients. Could have been routine, depending on the situation."
Another pause.
"Right," Daniel said, but she could hear the doubt growing. "It's just weird. His death seemed so fast. We'd just spoken to him earlier that day. He said he was okay. Tired, but okay."
Cara stayed silent.
"And I remember Dr. Wren was there when we came in," Daniel added. "He said it was peaceful. That we should be grateful. But now… I don't know."
"Daniel," she said gently, "do you think your father suffered?"
He hesitated. "No. I don't. He looked at peace. But… that's not the point, is it? If someone made that decision for him…"
He trailed off.
"I'm sorry," he said after a beat. "I know it's probably nothing. I just—had to ask."
He hung up.
Cara stared at the phone in her hand for a long time.
This wasn't just her suspicion anymore.
Someone else was beginning to see the cracks.
And if one family member noticed… how many others would?
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End of Chapter 9.
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