I stared at her.
“What?”
“It would have made him drowsy.
Maybe confused.
But not killed him.”
Daniel looked up.
“Then what killed him?”
Mara’s face changed.
“We don’t know yet.”
A phone rang.
One of the agents answered.
Then he looked at Mara.
“Vanessa just called the field office.”
Daniel stood.
“Where is she?”
“She says she escaped Hale.”
“Is she safe?”
The agent swallowed.
“She says she knows who killed Arthur.”
I felt my heart strike against my ribs.
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“She says Eleanor did.”
THE LIE THAT ALMOST DESTROYED ME**
For three seconds, I could hear nothing.
Then Daniel exploded.
“That’s impossible.”
Mara raised a hand.
“Let’s hear the call.”
The recording began.
Vanessa was sobbing.
“Hale took me because Martin thought I’d talk.
I got away.”
An agent asked, “Where are you?”
“I can’t say.”
“Who killed Arthur Vance?”
A long silence.
Then:
“Eleanor.”
Daniel slammed his palm against the table.
“She’s lying.”
But I did not speak.
Because something had returned to me.
A memory.
Arthur’s final night.
He had been restless.
Confused.
He complained of pain.
I had gone to the bathroom cabinet.
Taken out his medication.
Handed him two pills.
He had swallowed them.
Then slept.
And never woken up.
My hands began to shake.
Mara saw it.
“What?”
“I gave him the pills.”
Daniel turned.
“What pills?”
“His heart medication.”
Mara leaned forward.
“Did you verify the bottle?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it was his bottle.”
Except Vanessa had tampered with his medication pouch.
I sat down.
“She switched something.”
Mara nodded.
“Possibly.”
Daniel looked furious.
“So Vanessa made Mom unknowingly poison Dad?”
“Not if the sedative wasn’t fatal.”
