Chapter 16 - THE LABORATORY REPORT
Two weeks later, the envelope arrived.
It sat on the breakfast table, cream-colored, sealed with an official stamp. I stared at it for a long time before touching it.
Evelyn stood in the doorway. She had been watching it too.
“Open it,” she said.
I broke the seal.
The first page was a summary. The second page contained the findings. The third page… the conclusion.
I read it once. Then again.
Evelyn stepped closer. “Well?”
I looked up at her. “There was poison. A rare plant toxin. Slow-acting. Mimics organ failure. Nearly impossible to detect without specific testing.”
She swayed. “Martha was murdered.”
“Yes.”
“And… can they prove who did it?”
“The toxin was extracted from a plant that grows only in one region. And it requires preparation. Knowledge. Access.” I looked at her. “And Martha wrote that Vanessa brought her tea every morning.”
Evelyn sank into a chair, covering her face. “I told her she was imagining things. I told her it was the illness.”
I picked up the phone and called Eleanor.
“They found it,” I said. “Poison. Intentional.”
Eleanor’s voice was grim. “Then the charges change. Attempted murder becomes murder. Conspiracy becomes accessory. And everything we have… becomes a death sentence for Vanessa.”
“Evelyn?”
“Evelyn will be questioned. She admitted to ignoring Martha’s fears. She admitted giving Vanessa access. She may face charges too.”
“I know.”
“Adrian… prepare yourself. When Vanessa learns the results… she will not go quietly. She will try to destroy everything. Everyone.”
“I know.”
I hung up. Evelyn had not moved.
“Evelyn,” I said gently. “You need to tell me everything. Every conversation. Every suspicious moment. Every time Vanessa was alone with Martha. Every detail.”
She looked up, eyes red. “I don’t know. I never suspected. I thought… I thought it was just illness.”
“Then tell the police. Tell them exactly what you told me. What you told the judge. Everything.”
“And Caleb?”
I looked toward the garden window, where Caleb was playing. “Caleb will know the truth one day. But today… he only needs to know that his mother is at peace. And that the woman who hurt her will answer for it.”
Evelyn stood up slowly. “I will go with you. To the police station. I will tell them everything.”
We walked out together. Side by side. Past the reporters. Past the gates. Toward the station.
But as we drove, my mind kept returning to one line in the report.
*“The substance was administered over a period of approximately six weeks. Consistently. Daily.”*
Six weeks. Every day.
Someone had to prepare it. Someone had to put it in the tea. Someone had to serve it.
But had someone else known? Had someone else looked away? Had someone else signed the death certificate by refusing to ask questions?
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I glanced at Evelyn. She stared straight ahead, hands folded tightly in her lap.
Had she truly not known? Or had she simply not cared?
