Chapter 2 - The Smoke Detector
While the hospital’s forensic team extracted the encrypted files from my memory card, my mother, Eleanor, was brought into the small consultation room next door.
She wasn't wearing handcuffs yet, but two officers guarded the exit. When she saw me sitting up in a wheelchair, flanked by Dr. Cole and the detective, she buried her face in her hands and began to sob hysterically.
"Lena, baby," she wept, her voice trembling with performance-level grief. "You don't understand... Victor threatened me! He said if I didn't help him manage your condition, he'd leave us with nothing! I did it to keep us safe!"
"You watched him hit me with a flashlight, Mom," I said, my tone as flat and cold as a marble headstone. "You held the towel while I bled onto the rug so it wouldn't stain the hardwood."
"He was going to give you a comfortable life!" she shrieked, dropping the victim facade as panic took over. "You're nineteen! You don't know how to manage four million dollars! Your grandmother was crazy, and so are you!"
Detective Vance opened his laptop and turned the screen toward her.
"Mrs. Hale," Vance said smoothly, tapping a key. "This is high-definition video captured four days ago from a hidden camera inside your hallway smoke detector."
The video began playing.
The audio was crisp. It showed my mother sitting at the kitchen island, meticulously mixing a clear liquid from a dark glass vial into my daily glass of orange juice. Victor walked into the frame behind her, kissed the top of her head, and laughed.
"How long until the dosage causes a permanent stroke?" Victor’s recorded voice asked casually.
"Dr. Mercer said another three weeks at this concentration," my mother replied on screen, wiping the rim of the glass. "Then we sign the emergency power of attorney."
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Eleanor’s breath hitched in her throat. Her face drained of every ounce of color until she looked like a corpse. She looked at me, her lips trembling, but no sound came out.
"That vial was retrieved from your master bathroom twenty minutes ago under an emergency search warrant," Detective Vance added, shutting the laptop. "You aren't just an accomplice, Eleanor. You're a co-conspirator to attempted murder."
