Chapter 1 - THE SECOND INJECTOR
"Step away from my daughter."
I moved between Evelyn Hart and Lily's hospital bed.
My eight-year-old daughter lay beneath a pink blanket with an IV in her arm and oxygen beneath her nose. Three hours earlier, she had stopped breathing at Evelyn's charity luncheon.
Lily had lived with a severe peanut allergy since she was two. Everyone knew. Her medical bracelet was visible. I had spoken to the chef. I had carried two emergency injectors inside my jacket.
Yet a chocolate tart covered in crushed peanuts had still been placed in front of her.
"Dad, I can't breathe."
I reached for the injectors.
They were gone.
Now Evelyn stood in the ER wearing a plum-colored suit, silver hair perfect, voice low.
"If anyone asks," she told Lily, "your father forgot your medicine."
Lily stared at her.
"I saw you."
Evelyn's smile disappeared.
"I saw you switch the dessert plates."
"You were confused."
"No. My watch was recording."
The privacy curtain moved.
Detective Sarah Collins stepped out.
"We'll let a judge decide how confused she was."
Evelyn turned toward the door. A uniformed officer blocked it.
Collins lifted an evidence bag. Inside was one of Lily's missing injectors.
"We found this in your car."
Then Collins placed court papers on the table.
A petition to remove me as trustee of Lily's three-million-dollar inheritance.
The filing date was two weeks before the luncheon.
Evelyn's signature was at the bottom.
Beside it was my younger brother Michael's.
My phone rang.
Michael.
Collins nodded. "Answer. Don't tell him she's under arrest."
I put it on speaker.
"Daniel," Michael said. "I heard something happened to Lily."
I looked at my daughter.
May you like
Then he asked:
"Did the doctors find the second injector?"
