Chapter 10 - The Tea
I hated myself for even considering it.
Still, Detective Ellis did not dismiss the possibility.
“Do you have any of the supplements or medications you were taking then?” she asked.
“Victoria organized them.”
“Of course she did.”
Anna searched the kitchen while I checked the bathroom cabinet.
At the back of a pantry shelf, behind imported tea tins, she found a small amber bottle with no prescription label.
I recognized it immediately.
Victoria used to add two drops to my evening tea.
“Herbal sleep support,” she had called it.
Ellis sent it for testing.
The result came the next afternoon.
It was not poison. It was a prescription sedative, mild in small doses but capable of causing dizziness, confusion, and blackouts when mixed with alcohol.
My skin went cold.
At the board dinner where I fainted, I had drunk wine.
Charles leaned back in his chair. “If she was trying to establish a pattern of incapacity—”
“She was creating one,” Anna finished.
I remembered Victoria telling friends I was exhausted. Forgetful. Overworked. She had encouraged me to delegate more decisions to her.
Then the forged trust amendment appeared.
It was not one lie.
It was architecture.
A structure built slowly enough that I had mistaken walls for normal life.
Lily sat at the breakfast table coloring while we talked in low voices.
Suddenly she said, “She gave me sleepy juice too.”
Every adult in the room stopped moving.
I crouched beside her. “What do you mean?”
“Pink juice when you had meetings. It made me nap.”
Anna covered her mouth.
“When?” I asked.
“A lot.”
My voice shook despite everything I did to control it.
“Did Victoria ever tell you not to tell me?”
Lily nodded.
“She said you’d be mad at me.”
Detective Ellis stood immediately.
“We need Lily’s pediatrician and a child interviewer. Now.”
Then Daniel rushed into the room.
“Mr. Hale, Victoria is outside the front gate.”
May you like
He looked at the monitor.
“And she brought a television crew.”
