Chương 7
Claire closed her eyes briefly.
“The bottle with the red mark also showed none.”
Daniel exhaled.
“What about the third?”
“None.”
“So Owen was never exposed.”
“Not through those bottles.”
Claire pressed both hands over her face.
Relief came first.
Then humiliation.
She had accused Evelyn over a bottle that had never contained anything dangerous.
Vega let her sit with it.
Daniel asked, “The glass?”
“The remaining liquid from Claire’s glass did contain the same medication consistent with what was found in both Claire and Evelyn.”
“Somebody put it there.”
“It appears that way.”
“Which medication?”
Vega told them.
The name meant little to Claire.
Daniel recognized it.
“My mother had that.”
Vega nodded.
“She told us.”
Claire looked up.
“What?”
“Evelyn had a prescription after her husband died. She says she stopped taking it months ago.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
“Where was it?”
“In an upstairs bathroom cabinet.”
“Who knew?”
“Family members may have.”
“That means Rachel.”
Vega looked at him.
“It means family members may have.”
Daniel sat back, irritated.
Claire understood the detective better now.
Facts first.
Names later.
Vega continued.
“The bottle from the bathroom is missing.”
Daniel stood.
“What do you mean missing?”
“Your mother says it was there recently. Officers did not find it during the first search because at the time there was no reason to know what they were looking for. When we returned with her permission, the medication was not in the cabinet.”
“So Rachel took it.”
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Sit down.”
He looked as though he might refuse.
Then he sat.
Claire asked, “The third baby bottle.”
Vega nodded.
“It belonged to Evelyn.”
Claire stared.
“How did it get under my napkin?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did she put it there?”
“She says no.”
“Do you believe her?”
Vega’s expression barely moved.
“That isn’t how I would phrase it.”
Claire almost smiled.
Almost.
“There’s something else,” Vega said. “Your sister-in-law gave a statement saying you appeared impaired before dinner.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
“When?”
“She said around four-thirty.”
“That’s not true.”
“She said you were slurring your words.”
“I was not.”
“She said you nearly dropped the baby.”
Claire stood so fast her chair caught on the floor.
“I never dropped Owen.”
“Claire.”
“I never nearly dropped him.”
“I’m not saying you did.”
“She’s lying.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
Vega waited until Claire sat again.
“Two other guests remembered you becoming unsteady later, closer to five-thirty. Neither remembered slurred speech at four-thirty.”
Claire stared at her.
“Why would Rachel say that?”
No one answered.
Then Claire did.
“To make it sound like I took something myself.”
Vega folded her hands.
“That is one possibility.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
She saw the same conclusion forming in him.
This time she did not tell him not to have it.
The police did not arrest Rachel.
That infuriated Daniel.
It frightened Claire.
Suspicion had been easier when it felt temporary.
Without an arrest, it became something they had to live beside.
Rachel stopped answering Daniel’s calls.
She sent their mother a single text.
I never meant for any of this to happen.
Daniel showed it to Claire.
“That’s a confession.”
“No.”
“Come on.”
“It could mean the money.”
“It could mean everything.”
“It could.”
Daniel stared at the message.
“You sound like Vega.”
“I’m tired of being wrong.”
He looked at her.
That ended the argument.
The family divided without officially dividing.
Susan believed Rachel had done something.
Uncle Peter insisted nobody should “destroy the family over assumptions.”
Cousin Michael removed himself from the family group chat after Daniel called him a coward.
Evelyn told Daniel to stop fighting with people on his phone.
Anne, the neighbor, continued bringing soup and declined to express any opinion at all.
On Wednesday, Claire went back to Evelyn’s house for the first time.
She went alone.
Daniel wanted to come.
Claire told him no.
“Why?”
“Because I need to talk to her.”
“I can talk to her.”
“That is exactly why you’re staying here.”
He looked offended.
Then he looked at Owen.
“What if you get dizzy?”
Claire stared at him.
Daniel winced.
“Sorry.”
She took her keys.
Evelyn opened the door wearing jeans and an old blue sweater instead of her Thanksgiving clothes.
That helped.
So did the fact that her hair was not pinned perfectly.
“Come in.”
The dining room had been cleaned.
The table was bare.
Claire stopped in the doorway anyway.
Evelyn saw.
“I haven’t sat in there either.”
Claire looked at her.
They went to the kitchen.
Evelyn made coffee.
Claire did not drink it.
Both noticed.
Neither mentioned it.
For several minutes they discussed Owen.
How much he was eating.
Whether he had rolled over again.
The dry patch behind his knee.
Normal things.
Then Evelyn said, “You came here for something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Claire looked at the mug.
“Did Rachel know about your prescription?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She picked it up for me twice.”
“When was the last time you saw the bottle?”
Evelyn frowned.
“I don’t know.”
“Before Thanksgiving?”
“I think so.”
“Where?”
“Bathroom cabinet.”
“Did anyone else use that bathroom?”
“All the guests.”
“The upstairs bathroom?”
“Not usually.”
Claire looked up.
Evelyn understood.
“The downstairs powder room was clogged.”
“When?”
“Thanksgiving morning.”
“Who knew?”
“Everyone who arrived.”
Claire leaned back.
Evelyn’s fingers tightened around her coffee cup.
“She would not hurt Owen.”
Claire said nothing.
Evelyn looked at her sharply.
“I know my daughter.”
Claire chose her next words carefully.
“You knew she wouldn’t take your money.”
Evelyn’s face closed.
Claire regretted it immediately.
“That was cruel.”
“Yes.”
They sat in silence.
The refrigerator hummed.
A delivery truck stopped outside, idled, then pulled away.
Finally Evelyn said, “She was eleven when Daniel broke his arm.”
Claire looked up.
May you like
Evelyn stared into her coffee.
“They were riding bicycles where I told them not to. Daniel went down the hill too fast. Rachel ran home almost half a mile in bare feet because she had lost her shoes somewhere. She was bleeding when she got to the door.”
