Chapter 5 - THE BOTTLE IN THE CABINETDaniel moved quickly.
“Sophie, go upstairs with Maria.”
“But—”
“Please.”
Something in his voice made her obey.
When they disappeared, Rachel replayed the final portion of the recording.
Then we use the medication.
Daniel paced once across the kitchen.
“What medication?”
“We don’t know.”
“You think she was planning to poison me?”
“I think we do not make accusations until we have evidence.”
“She said medication.”
“I heard her.”
Daniel opened the cabinet beside the refrigerator.
Prescription bottles.
Vitamins.
Cold medicine.
Nothing unusual.
Then Rachel asked, “Where does Victoria keep her things?”
“Bathroom upstairs. Dressing room.”
They searched carefully.
Perfume.
Cosmetics.
Skincare.
Prescription allergy medication.
Nothing.
Daniel checked the guest bathroom.
Then the kitchen pantry.
Maria entered after settling Sophie.
“Sir?”
“Has Miss Lane ever asked you to give me medication?”
Maria frowned.
“No.”
“Supplements?”
She thought.
“Sometimes she prepared your evening vitamins.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“She said you forgot them when you were busy.”
Rachel and Daniel exchanged a glance.
“Where?”
Maria pointed toward a small cabinet beside the coffee station.
Daniel opened it.
There was a weekly pill organizer.
He normally took a simple multivitamin, magnesium, and medication for mild hypertension.
But the compartments contained extra white tablets.
Daniel lifted one.
“I don’t recognize this.”
Rachel photographed everything.
“Don’t touch any more.”
Daniel stepped back.
His mind raced through the previous weeks.
Fatigue.
Mild dizziness.
Two mornings when he had struggled to focus.
He had blamed stress.
A major acquisition had consumed most of his attention.
He had been sleeping poorly.
Now every symptom felt different.
Rachel called a private forensic laboratory used by her firm.
“We need expedited testing.”
Daniel looked at Maria.
“When did Victoria start organizing these?”
“Maybe three weeks ago.”
Three weeks.
The same period the guardianship documents had been notarized.
Daniel sat down.
For the first time that evening, fear replaced anger.
Not fear for himself.
Fear of how close he may have come to leaving Sophie alone with the person who frightened her.
His phone rang again.
This time the caller was unknown.
Daniel answered.
Silence.
Then a man’s voice.
“Stop digging.”
Daniel stood.
“Who is this?”
“You have a daughter.”
The line disconnected.
Rachel had heard enough to see his expression.
“What did he say?”
Daniel told her.
She immediately called local police.
Within forty minutes, two detectives arrived.
Detective Marcus Reed was older, controlled, and skeptical in the useful way Daniel wanted a detective to be.
His partner, Elena Brooks, reviewed the documents.
They listened to Sophie’s recordings.
They watched the kitchen video.
They photographed the pills.
Reed looked at Daniel.
“Do you know who recorded this kitchen footage?”
“No.”
“Who has access to the house?”
“Family, household staff, security.”
“And Miss Lane?”
“She lived here part-time.”
“Any contractors recently?”
Daniel thought.
“Wedding planners. Florists. Audio technicians.”
Maria suddenly spoke.
“There was an electrician.”
Everyone turned.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“For what?”
“Miss Lane said one of the kitchen outlets kept failing.”
Daniel frowned.
“No outlet was failing.”
Maria looked uneasy.
“He was here almost two hours.”
Detective Brooks asked, “Description?”
Maria gave one.
Bald.
Approximately fifty.
Gray jacket.
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“The man in the video.”
Reed leaned back.
“So the person helping Miss Lane may also have installed the camera.”
“Why would he record himself?”
Rachel asked.
“Maybe he didn’t install it,” Reed said.
Daniel looked at Maria.
“Who else could have?”
Maria’s expression changed.
She looked toward the stairs.
“No.”
Daniel understood.
“Sophie?”
Maria nodded slowly.
Several months earlier, Daniel had bought Sophie a small motion-activated camera kit for a science project.
He went upstairs.
Sophie was sitting at her desk.
Daniel held up the flash drive.
“Did you record the kitchen?”
She looked frightened.
“I didn’t mean to spy.”
Daniel crouched beside her.
“Tell me.”
Sophie twisted her fingers.
“I put the little camera behind the cookbooks.”
“Why?”
“Because Victoria always acted different when you weren’t here.”
Daniel swallowed.
“How did the flash drive get downstairs?”
“I gave it to Mr. Lewis.”
Daniel frowned.
“Lewis?”
The night security supervisor.
“He told me if I ever saw something scary, I could give it to him.”
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
Sophie had built her own safety system because she did not trust the adults around her to understand.
That realization hurt.
“You did the right thing.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“Did Victoria do something bad?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I think she may have.”
Sophie looked down.
“I heard her talking about you getting sick.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What did she say?”
“She said your company would be easier to control if you had to rest.”
Daniel felt another cold wave move through him.
Downstairs, Detective Reed called for him.
The preliminary pill identification had come back through the poison-control database.
One of the tablets appeared to be a prescription sedative not issued to Daniel.
Combined with his blood-pressure medication, it could cause dizziness, confusion, and in higher doses potentially dangerous hypotension.
Reed looked grim.
“We’re getting the pills tested officially, but until then, don’t ingest anything Miss Lane had access to.”
Daniel nodded.
“Can you arrest her?”
“Not yet.”
“You have recordings.”
“We have concerning evidence. We need to verify authenticity, establish intent, identify the man, trace the medication, and connect Miss Lane to the transfer attempt.”
Daniel hated the answer.
But he understood it.
Then his phone buzzed.
A text message from Victoria.
You embarrassed me in front of people who matter.
Daniel stared.
A second message appeared.
You should have listened when I told you Sophie was the problem.
Then a photograph arrived.
Daniel’s heart stopped.
It showed Sophie leaving school three days earlier.
Taken from across the street.
A message followed.
You cannot watch her every second.
Daniel handed the phone to Detective Reed.
The detective’s expression hardened.
“This changes things.”
Police units were dispatched immediately.
A patrol car remained outside the house.
Sophie’s school was notified.
Victoria’s known apartment was checked.
She was gone.
Her phone went directly to voicemail.
Her vehicle was missing.
By midnight, the house had become a secured scene.
Daniel sat beside Sophie until she fell asleep.
He remained there long after.
At 1:17 a.m., Rachel called from downstairs.
“Daniel.”
He heard something in her voice.
“What?”
“The bank sent the full wire request.”
“And?”
“The destination company belongs to someone.”
“Who?”
Rachel paused.
“Monica Price.”
Victoria’s friend.
The notary.
Daniel closed his eyes.
But Rachel had more.
“And Monica is not just a wealth manager.”
“What is she?”
“She used to work for Harrington Capital.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Why don’t I remember her?”
“You might remember her former name.”
Rachel spoke it.
Monica Vale.
Daniel stopped breathing.
He remembered.
Monica Vale had been fired after an internal fraud investigation.
A fraud investigation Caroline had helped uncover shortly before Sophie was born.
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And suddenly, Victoria’s presence in Daniel’s life no longer looked like a romance gone wrong.
It looked like revenge that had been years in the making.
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