Chapter 8
The investigation into Laura’s death reopened officially.
I signed consent for records.
Laura’s parents, Margaret and Thomas, drove in from Vermont.
I had avoided them after getting engaged.
Vanessa said they judged me.
She said they wanted me stuck in mourning.
I believed her because guilt makes lies sound merciful.
Margaret walked into my house and went straight to Noah.
He ran to her.
“Grandma.”
She held him and wept.
Thomas looked at me.
His eyes were tired.
“You should have called us sooner.”
“I know.”
“No excuse?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Good. That is where we start.”
Detective Brooks interviewed them.
Margaret had old emails from Laura.
One read:
That volunteer Vanessa scares me. She watches Noah’s pictures too long.
Another:
If anything happens fast, ask for a medication audit.
My hands shook as I read.
Laura had tried to leave breadcrumbs while dying.
And I had been too shattered afterward to follow them.
The medication audit showed irregularities.
Dosages signed off by a nurse who had not been on shift.
Missing pain medication.
A sedative entered at the wrong time.
Detective Brooks said, “We cannot prove homicide yet.”
Yet.
That word entered my life like a blade.
Vanessa was arrested again for fraud conspiracy after Mason’s files were authenticated.
May you like
This time, bail was higher.
Her smile in the mugshot was gone.
