Chapter 1: The Second Injector
The call ended.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
I stared at my phone as if Michael's voice might somehow crawl back through the speaker and explain what I'd just heard.
“Did the doctors find the second injector?”
He hadn't asked if Lily was alive.
He hadn't asked if she was breathing.
He hadn't asked whether my daughter was going to be okay.
He had asked about the second injector.
The missing one.
The injector that had disappeared from my coat pocket before Lily collapsed.
My hands tightened around the phone.
Across the hospital room, Detective Sarah Collins watched me carefully.
“Don't call him back,” she said.
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because right now, we know Michael knew about the medication.”
“He's my brother.”
“I know.”
“He's been living with us for almost a year.”
“I know.”
“He picks Lily up from school.”
“I know that too.”
Her voice remained calm.
That somehow made everything worse.
Lily was asleep beneath the pink hospital blanket, her small chest rising slowly beneath the oxygen tube. The monitors beside her bed beeped at regular intervals.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Each sound reminded me that three hours earlier, I had almost lost her.
And someone had planned it.
Detective Collins stepped closer.
“Daniel, I need you to tell me everything Michael has access to.”
I swallowed.
“House keys. Lily's school schedule. Her medical information. My office.”
“Your office?”
“He sometimes handles bills for me.”
“Does he know about Anna's trust?”
My stomach tightened.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Everything.”
She looked toward Lily.
“Does he know the exact amount?”
“Three million.”
Collins' expression changed slightly.
Not surprise.
Confirmation.
She reached into her coat and pulled out a photograph.
She placed it face down on the table.
“Before I show you this, I need you to understand something.”
“What?”
“If Michael is involved, he's not improvising.”
I stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
“The custody petition was prepared two weeks ago.”
“Yes.”
“Evelyn didn't suddenly decide today that she wanted Lily.”
“No.”
“She planned this.”
I nodded slowly.
“But that doesn't explain how she knew Lily would be exposed to peanuts.”
Collins turned the photograph over.
My blood ran cold.
It was a picture of my kitchen.
Taken through the window.
The photograph showed Michael standing at the counter.
Lily's medication bag was beside him.
“What the hell…”
I picked it up.
“When was this taken?”
“Five days ago.”
“Who took it?”
“We're still determining that.”
I looked closer.
Michael was holding something in his hand.
A small plastic injector.
My injector.
The one Lily carried in her emergency bag.
My throat tightened.
“He told me he was checking the expiration date.”
Collins didn't answer.
I looked at her.
“You think he took it?”
“I think you should ask yourself a different question.”
“What?”
“Why would your brother need to photograph himself holding it?”
I had no answer.
None.
Then something moved beneath Lily's blanket.
Her fingers.
I rushed to her bedside.
“Lily?”
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Daddy?”
“I'm here.”
She looked frightened.
I took her hand.
“You're safe.”
Her eyes moved toward Detective Collins.
“Is she the lady from behind the curtain?”
Collins nodded.
“Yes.”
Lily whispered something.
I leaned closer.
“What did you say?”
“I forgot something.”
“What?”
“The man.”
My heart stopped.
“What man?”
She looked at Detective Collins.
“The man who was outside the restaurant.”
Collins immediately pulled a chair beside the bed.
“What did he look like?”
Lily closed her eyes, trying to remember.
“He wore a black hat.”
“Anything else?”
“He talked to Grandma Evelyn.”
My pulse exploded.
“Are you sure?”
Lily nodded.
“He gave her something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
She frowned.
“Daddy…”
“Yeah?”
“I think it was my school picture.”
Detective Collins and I exchanged a look.
“What makes you think that?”
“Because he said…”
Lily hesitated.
“What did he say?”
She whispered:
“He said, ‘She'll be ours soon.’”
The room seemed to shrink around me.
Collins stood.
“Daniel, I need you to stay here with Lily.”
“Where are you going?”
“To find out who that man was.”
She reached the door.
Then stopped.
“And Daniel?”
“Yes?”
“Don't trust anyone who knew about today's luncheon.”
She left.
I sat beside Lily, staring at the closed door.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text message.
From Michael.
You shouldn't have let the detective get involved.
I froze.
Another message appeared.
Now you've made this much harder.
My fingers went numb.
Then came the third message.
But don't worry. I still have a way to make Lily tell the truth.
I stared at the screen.
“What truth?” I whispered.
A fourth message appeared.
This one contained a photograph.
I opened it.
It was Lily.
Taken that morning.
Standing outside her school.
Beside her was Michael.
But that wasn't what terrified me.
Behind them stood a woman.
Evelyn.
And beside Evelyn was the same man Lily had described.
Black hat.
Dark coat.
Watching my daughter.
I looked toward Lily's hospital bed.
She was asleep again.
I stood slowly.
Michael had been watching her.
Evelyn had been watching her.
Someone else had been watching her too.
And suddenly I realized something Detective Collins hadn't yet considered.
The missing injector wasn't the real weapon.
It was the evidence.
Someone wanted me to find it.
Someone wanted the police to arrest Evelyn.
Someone wanted me distracted.
Because while everyone was looking at my mother-in-law...
May you like
the real person behind the plan was still free.
And he was much closer to Lily than I thought.
