Chapter 2 - Twelve Hours of SilenceThe police confiscated Daniel's watch.
He protested for nearly ten minutes.
"It's a luxury watch," he said. "The recording function is harmless."
Officer Harris looked at him.
"Then you won't mind surrendering it."
Daniel stopped talking.
That was the first crack.
Small.
But real.
By midnight, Clara was stable.
Lily was still unconscious.
The doctors said she had responded poorly to treatment but there was no permanent neurological damage they could confirm yet.
I sat beside Lily's bed.
Miss Button sat on a table nearby.
The doll looked harmless.
White dress.
Black buttons.
Yellow yarn hair.
One small brown stain near the hem.
I couldn't stop staring at it.
At 2:14 a.m., Officer Harris returned.
"Your attorney is here."
I stepped into the hallway.
My attorney, Nathan Cole, was carrying a tablet and a folder.
His first words were not comforting.
"Michael, the transfers were not random."
He showed me the emergency account.
Three withdrawals.
One destination account.
A shell company registered six months earlier.
"What company?"
"Ward Family Property Holdings."
I stared at him.
"I've never heard of it."
"You weren't supposed to."
Nathan swiped.
The company's listed director was Daniel.
My stomach turned.
"Why would my brother move eighty-four thousand dollars?"
"He didn't."
"What?"
"The money moved into a second account first."
Nathan showed me the transaction trail.
Then the money went somewhere else.
A private investment fund.
Owned by...
"Evelyn?"
Nathan nodded.
I felt the room tilt.
"My mother doesn't have that kind of money."
"She does now."
"When was the transfer initiated?"
"While you were out of the country."
I looked toward Clara's room.
"How did she access the emergency account?"
Nathan's eyes hardened.
"Your backup key."
I remembered the locked drawer in my office.
I remembered showing Evelyn where the key was years ago.
She had asked whether I really needed an emergency cash account.
I had trusted her.
Nathan lowered his voice.
"There is more."
He opened another file.
"The pesticide wasn't applied randomly."
"What does that mean?"
"The chemical was found concentrated on your wife's sleeves, Lily's pajamas, and Miss Button."
"Three different surfaces."
"Exactly."
He looked at me.
"Someone may have used the doll as the delivery mechanism."
I stared at him.
"How?"
"We don't know yet."
Behind us, the elevator doors opened.
Two detectives stepped out.
One held a sealed evidence box.
"Mr. Ward?"
"Yes."
"We recovered footage from your home's exterior camera."
I frowned.
"My security system?"
"The main camera had been disconnected before your trip."
"By who?"
"Your mother."
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
"How do you know?"
The detective opened the box.
Inside was a screwdriver.
"Her fingerprints."
Nathan went silent.
Then the detective added:
"We also recovered footage from a neighbor."
He turned his tablet toward me.
The video showed our house.
Timestamped three nights before I returned.
At 1:47 a.m., a figure came out through the side door.
It carried something.
A metal container.
The figure paused beneath the streetlight.
And turned toward the camera.
I recognized the face.
Not Evelyn.
Not Daniel.
It was Clara.
May you like
My wife.
And she was carrying the pesticide container.
