Chương 9
My phone buzzed.
A text from Daniel.
Police are here.
Then another.
Lily is scared.
Then another.
They took her backpack.
My fingers trembled.
I typed, Tell her I love her.
Three dots appeared.
Stopped.
Appeared again.
Finally he wrote, I did.
I read the sentence twice.
The anger I had toward him did not disappear.
Neither did the memory of his smirk in court.
But something shifted.
For the first time all day, Daniel had done exactly one thing I asked without adding a condition.
I hated that it mattered.
Bell returned.
“The school bottle is being secured.”
“Are they testing it?”
“It’ll be submitted.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Today?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can’t you call somebody?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“And I don’t control laboratory priority.”
“That’s insane.”
He gave me a tired look.
“Welcome to public service.”
I almost smiled.
He reopened his notebook.
“Another question.”
“Okay.”
“Has Patricia ever worked in medicine, manufacturing, agriculture, pest control, laboratories, anything involving chemicals?”
“No.”
“What does she do?”
“She’s retired.”
“From?”
“Accounting.”
“Where?”
“Benson Agricultural Supply.”
Bell’s pen stopped.
“What kind of supply?”
“I don’t know.”
“Feed, fertilizer, pesticides?”
“I think all of it.”
Dr. Marquez looked up sharply.
Bell’s voice stayed level.
“How long did she work there?”
“Thirty years.”
“Doing what?”
“Payroll, then office manager.”
“Would she have had access to storage areas?”
“I have no idea.”
He wrote quickly.
“Does the company still exist?”
“Yes.”
“At the same location?”
“I think so.”
His phone rang again.
This time he answered in the room.
“Bell.”
He listened.
His eyes moved toward me.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Who authorized entry?”
He listened again.
“Fine.”
Then, “Do not touch anything else until I get there.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“Deputies went to Patricia’s house.”
My pulse jumped.
“Is she there?”
“No.”
“Where is she?”
“They don’t know.”
“Was the door locked?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did they get inside?”
“Daniel gave consent to check a detached garage he uses for storage.”
“Why?”
Bell hesitated.
“What?”
“Because he told them his mother keeps some household supplies there.”
“What kind?”
“He didn’t specify.”
I pushed the blanket away.
“Claire.”
Dr. Shah stood.
“I need to go.”
“No.”
“You keep saying no like I’m five.”
“I keep saying no because you’re medically unstable.”
Bell held up a hand.
“Stay put.”
“What did they find?”
He looked at me for a long second.
“Containers.”
“What containers?”
“Unlabeled ones.”
“For what?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Liquid?”
“Some.”
“Powder?”
“Some.”
Dr. Marquez’s expression hardened.
Bell continued.
“There are also old agricultural product boxes.”
My throat closed.
“What products?”
“I’m not giving you names until we know what was actually stored in them.”
“Why?”
“Because empty packaging proves almost nothing.”
“Unless it matches what’s in my blood.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You think I’m going to contaminate an investigation from a hospital bed?”
“I think you’re scared, exhausted, and connected to every person involved.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
I hated him for several seconds.
He tolerated it.
Then Dr. Shah’s pager chirped.
He looked down.
His face changed.
Dr. Marquez saw it.
“What?”
He stepped toward her and spoke too softly for me to hear.
I watched their expressions instead.
That was worse.
Dr. Marquez’s lips pressed together.
She looked at me.
“Claire.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“One of the preliminary toxicology screens came back.”
Bell’s notebook lowered.
I could hear the air vent above us.
Somebody laughed in the hallway.
A cart squeaked past.
“What did it show?”
Dr. Shah answered.
“Elevated arsenic.”
The room stayed perfectly ordinary.
No alarms.
No dramatic rush of people.
Just a doctor saying a sentence that divided my life into before and after.
“How elevated?”
“High enough that we need confirmatory testing and treatment.”
“So I was poisoned.”
Dr. Marquez sat beside the bed.
“You were exposed.”
“Repeatedly?”
“The pattern could fit repeated exposure.”
“Could it be accidental?”
“Yes.”
“From food?”
“Yes.”
“From water?”
“Yes.”
“From somebody doing it on purpose?”
She did not answer immediately.
“Yes.”
I looked at Bell.
He was no longer writing.
“What happens now?”
“Now this becomes a criminal investigation.”
My mouth went dry.
“And Lily?”
Dr. Marquez answered before he could.
“She needs testing immediately.”
I reached for my phone.
Bell put up a hand.
“The school is arranging transport.”
“Without Daniel?”
“With him present.”
“I don’t want him alone with her.”
Bell studied me.
“Because you think he did this?”
“I don’t know what I think.”
“Then be precise.”
I swallowed.
“I don’t trust him not to tell her what to say.”
Bell nodded.
“That’s different.”
He typed something into his phone.
“An officer can remain with them.”
Relief came so fast it made me dizzy.
I closed my eyes.
When I opened them, Daniel was calling.
Bell looked at the screen.
“Answer.”
I did.
Daniel did not say hello.
“Claire.”
His voice sounded wrong.
“What happened?”
“I’m at the school.”
“I know.”
“There are deputies everywhere.”
“I know.”
“Lily thinks I’m in trouble.”
“Are you?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened me more than denial.
“Daniel.”
He breathed into the phone.
“They found things in the garage.”
“Bell told me.”
“I didn’t know they were there.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“I’m thinking a lot of things.”
He was quiet.
Then he said, “Your mother called me.”
I frowned.
“My mother?”
“Rachel called her.”
Of course Rachel had.
Apparently my sister had discovered the situation through some combination of family gossip and institutional leakage, which meant peace was over.
“What did Mom say?”
“That Rachel is flying in.”
I closed my eyes.
“Great.”
Daniel almost laughed.
It was a broken little sound.
“Yeah.”
For one second we were still married in the old way.
Two people sharing dread over Rachel’s arrival.
Then he whispered, “Claire, did my mother do this?”
I looked at Bell.
May you like
He looked away, giving me privacy without pretending not to listen.
“I don’t know.”
