Chapter 38

Her mind went blank for a moment, unable to process what was happening. Then the sharp beep of the medical equipment came again through the phone. That piercing sound snapped Victoria wide awake. She shot up from the bed. "What?" she blurted out. Theodore didn't say anything else—he just hung up. But right before the call ended, Victoria clearly caught the long, flatline beep from the heart monitor. Something happened to Bertha? Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't dare think further. Panic flooded her face as she scrambled out of bed, threw on a coat, and rushed out to call a cab to the hospital. By the time she got there, though, it was too late. She arrived just in time to see the doctors covering Old Mrs. Chambers with a white sheet. The hallway was already packed with members of the Chambers family. Judging by their sleepy looks and wrinkled clothes, most of them had been dragged here in the middle of the night. Standing off to the side, Victoria spotted Theodore leaning against t