“His father?” I asked. “Nathan told me his father died of a heart attack.”

“The death certificate says otherwise,” Harris said, pointing to the document through the plastic. “The cause of death was listed as accidental poisoning. But the case was never fully resolved. Your mother-in-law, Eleanor, was the primary suspect at the time.”

I stared at the paper.

“But she was never charged,” Harris continued. “Because she began showing signs of early-onset cognitive decline shortly after. Or at least, that’s what the records say.”

“Nathan was protecting her,” I realized.

“Or he was controlling her,” Harris corrected gently. “These journal entries belong to Eleanor. They detail how Nathan, even as a teenager, took control of the family’s finances and medical decisions. He kept her isolated so she could never speak to the police about what happened to his father.”

“And the sedatives?”

“He was administering them to keep her compliant. She has moments of clarity, which is probably why he kept her locked in the soundproofed basement room when he was at work.”

The horror of it washed over me in waves.