Chapter 3 - THE MEDICINE CABINET
Alejandro called Detective Marcus Bell from the hospital parking garage.
Marcus had known the Rivers family for eleven years.
Alejandro explained enough.
Not everything.
Marcus interrupted.
“Do not confront Valerie.”
“I already confronted her yesterday.”
“About the fake medicine?”
“Yes.”
“Does she know about the recordings?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way.”
Within an hour, arrangements were made.
Alejandro did not return home.
Teresa did.
She had a key.
More importantly, Valerie had no reason to fear her.
Yet.
When Teresa arrived, Valerie was standing in the kitchen drinking coffee.
“Oh.”
Valerie looked irritated.
“What are you doing here?”
“Getting some clothes for Sophie.”
“She doesn’t need an entire family invasion.”
Teresa smiled.
“My granddaughter is hospitalized.”
“She has pneumonia, Teresa. Children get pneumonia.”
“Of course.”
Teresa walked upstairs.
She could feel Valerie watching.
Sophie’s bedroom smelled faintly of lavender.
Teresa packed pajamas.
Socks.
A sweater.
Then entered the bathroom connecting Sophie’s room to the hallway.
The medicine cabinet opened.
Children’s ibuprofen.
Thermometer.
Bandages.
Cough drops.
Nothing unusual.
Then Teresa remembered thirty years of hospital work.
People hide things where they think nobody will bend down.
She crouched.
Under the sink.
Cleaning supplies.
Extra toilet paper.
A plastic storage box.
Locked.
Teresa photographed it.
Then noticed something else.
The air vent beneath the cabinet sat crooked.
One screw was missing.
She touched it.
The cover moved.
Behind it was a brown pharmacy bottle.
No label.
Her heart began pounding.
She did not touch it.
She photographed it.
Then called Marcus.
“I found something.”
“Don't remove it.”
“I know.”
“What does it look like?”
“Brown bottle. No label. Hidden behind an air vent.”
Silence.
Then:
“Leave the room.”
Teresa stood.
Before she reached the door, Valerie was there.
“What are you doing?”
Teresa looked at her.
“Packing.”
“In the bathroom?”
“I needed Sophie’s toothbrush.”
Valerie’s eyes moved toward the open cabinet.
Then toward the vent.
Teresa saw it.
Fear.
Just for half a second.
Valerie smiled.
“I can finish.”
“No need.”
Teresa picked up the bag.
Valerie stepped aside.
Teresa walked downstairs.
Almost safe.
Then Valerie said:
“Teresa.”
She stopped.
“Did Sophie say anything about me?”
Teresa turned.
“Why?”
Valerie smiled.
“She's been confused lately.”
“Has she?”
“Fever can do that.”
Teresa studied her.
“You know what grief can do?”
Valerie frowned.
“What?”
“It teaches people to recognize when someone they love is disappearing.”
She walked out.
Twenty minutes later, detectives entered with consent from Alejandro, the homeowner, and secured the relevant areas while obtaining the necessary warrant for a broader search.
The bottle behind the vent was collected.
So was the locked box.
Inside were prescription medications.
Several belonged to people who did not live in the house.
One bottle contained sedating antihistamine.
Another contained tablets prescribed to Valerie months earlier.
A third had its label partially removed.
Then Marcus found something worse.
Inside the kitchen trash, beneath coffee grounds, was Sophie’s original antibiotic bottle.
Still almost full.
Alejandro received the photograph at the hospital.
He stared at it.
Sophie had never completed the antibiotics.
Valerie had lied.
Her untreated respiratory infection had progressed.
But that still didn't explain the bitter drinks.
The lab would.
That evening, Marcus called.
“Preliminary screen came back.”
Alejandro stood.
“What was in the bottle?”
“A concentrated sedating medication mixed with another compound.”
“Poison?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone may have been deliberately making Sophie drowsy and sick.”
Alejandro gripped the phone.
“Why?”
Marcus was silent.
Then:
“That’s what we need to find out.”
Across town, Valerie packed a suitcase.
Because she had just discovered something.
Sophie’s tablet was missing.
May you like
And Valerie knew exactly what was on it.
---
