Chapter 6 - The White Tablet.
Daniel held the plastic bag beneath the desk lamp.
The tablet looked harmless.
That made it worse.
"Tell me what it is."
Evelyn's eyes stayed on the bag.
"I cannot."
"Cannot or will not?"
Cole stepped closer.
"Daniel, maybe we should call someone before this gets out of control."
"It is already out of control."
Elise adjusted Maisie against her chest.
"Rebecca photographed the pills before she stopped taking them."
Daniel looked at her.
"Where are the photographs?"
"In the archive, unless they were deleted."
He searched Rebecca's folders.
A file labeled PRESCRIPTIONS remained intact.
Inside were pictures of two nearly identical white tablets.
One carried a tiny stamped mark.
The other did not.
Daniel enlarged the image.
The pill in his hand had no mark.
Cole stared at the screen.
"That still proves nothing."
"No," Elise said.
"But Rebecca sent a sample to a private lab."
Daniel turned.
"Did she get the result?"
Elise shook her head.
"She died before it came back."
Evelyn suddenly reached for her phone.
Daniel held out his hand.
"Give it to me."
Her expression hardened.
"You are not confiscating my phone."
"You are in my home, standing beside deleted files and a medication my wife was afraid of."
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
"And now I am a suspect because the nanny tells a dramatic story?"
Elise did not react.
Daniel's phone vibrated.
A building-security notification appeared.
SERVICE ELEVATOR - MANUAL ACCESS.
He looked toward the hidden corridor.
Someone had used the service elevator two minutes earlier.
Daniel called downstairs.
The night supervisor answered quickly.
"No one is scheduled for your floor, Mr. Carter."
"Lock the service elevators."
A pause.
"Sir, someone just exited at parking level three."
Daniel was already moving.
Cole followed.
"Stay here," Daniel told Elise.
She looked offended.
"I am not leaving the girls."
"That is exactly why I need you here."
The sentence stopped both of them.
Daniel had trusted her aloud before he could reconsider it.
He and Cole reached the private garage thirty seconds later.
A black sedan was pulling toward the exit.
Daniel recognized it.
"That is Mom's driver."
Cole stared.
"She said he went home."
The gate started to rise.
Daniel hit the emergency control.
The barrier dropped.
The sedan braked hard.
A man climbed out carrying a leather messenger bag.
It was Nathan Price, Evelyn's longtime assistant.
Daniel walked toward him.
"Open the bag."
Nathan looked toward Cole.
"Mr. Carter, your mother asked me to collect personal property."
"From my office?"
Nathan said nothing.
Daniel took the bag.
Inside were three external drives and a folder of printed documents.
The top page carried Rebecca's name.
Below it was a laboratory logo.
Daniel read one line.
SUBSTANCE IDENTIFIED: ZOLPIDEM.
He knew the name.
A sedative.
His hands began to shake.
The report warned the concentration was inconsistent with Rebecca's prescription history.
Cole went pale.
"Mom knew."
Nathan swallowed.
"Mrs. Carter told me the report would destroy the family."
Daniel looked up.
"How did she get it?"
Nathan's answer came quietly.
"She intercepted the courier."
Daniel's chest tightened.
"When?"
"Two days before the accident."
Footsteps sounded behind them.
Elise stood near the garage door holding the baby monitor card in one hand.
Daniel stared at her.
"I told you to stay upstairs."
"Your mother left."
Daniel looked toward the elevator.
"What?"
"She took Maisie."
Everything inside him stopped.
Elise's face was white.
"I turned around for ten seconds to put Rosie in the crib."
May you like
Daniel dropped the messenger bag.
Then he ran.
