Chapter 3 - The Blue Vial
The judge stared at the blue vial as if it were a venomous snake.
Nobody in the room dared to take a single breath.
Harrison was the first person to break the heavy silence.
“Where did you get that, Leo?” the prosecutor asked sharply.
“I told you,” Leo replied calmly.
“I found it in the kitchen trash can buried under some coffee grounds.”
“I kept it hidden in my toy box because I was scared.”
Victoria’s face turned an ugly shade of pale gray.
Her usual confident posture completely collapsed for a fraction of a second.
“That proves absolutely nothing,” she stammered.
“Anyone could have thrown that in the trash.”
“Maria probably planted it there to frame me!”
Maria shook her head violently, tears spilling down her cheeks again.
“I have never seen that bottle in my entire life,” Maria swore.
Richard stepped forward, reaching out toward the coffee table.
“Let me see that,” Richard demanded gruffly.
The judge aggressively swatted Richard’s hand away.
“Do not touch that piece of evidence!” the judge roared.
“Bailiff, get an evidence bag in here immediately.”
A uniformed officer stepped into the room and carefully bagged the vial.
Leo watched them seal the plastic bag tightly.
“My dad told me that Victoria was angry with him,” Leo added softly.
Victoria whipped her head around to glare at the boy.
“Shut your mouth, you little monster,” she hissed viciously.
The judge pointed a stern finger at her.
“One more outburst like that, and you will be arrested for contempt,” he warned.
“What did your father tell you, Leo?”
Leo looked down at his shoes, playing with his shoelaces.
“He said he was going to change his will.”
“He wanted to leave everything to me and nothing to her.”
Harrison’s eyes widened as he feverishly wrote notes on his legal pad.
Motive had just been established in a matter of seconds.
Victoria started pacing the room, her high heels clicking loudly on the wood floor.
“My husband loved me,” she insisted defensively.
“We were perfectly happy.”
Leo looked up at her with a chillingly blank expression.
“He didn’t love you after he found out about your secret phone,” Leo said.
Victoria stopped dead in her tracks.
It was as if she had just been struck by a bolt of lightning.
Richard also froze, his eyes darting nervously toward the window.
Maria gasped, realizing the true gravity of what the boy was revealing.
“Secret phone?” the judge asked, leaning forward with intense interest.
“Yes,” Leo nodded firmly.
“She used it to call someone named Arthur late at night.”
“She told Arthur that the problem would be taken care of soon.”
The room fell into a terrifying, suffocating silence once again.
May you like
Richard’s face began to sweat profusely under the bright lights.
Because Arthur was Richard’s middle name.
