Chapter 1 - THE SECOND INJECTOR
Michael’s question hung in the hospital room like a confession he had not realized he had made.
“Did the doctors find the second injector?”
I stared at the phone in my hand.
Across from me, Detective Sarah Collins lifted one finger to her lips.
Lily watched me from the hospital bed.
She was pale and exhausted, but even she seemed to understand that something had just changed.
I forced myself to sound confused.
“What second injector?”
There was a pause.
Only two seconds.
Maybe three.
But I had known my brother my entire life.
Michael never paused unless he was buying himself time.
“The other one you always carry,” he said.
My grip tightened around the phone.
“I thought you said you just heard something happened.”
Another silence.
Then Michael laughed.
It was too casual.
“Come on, Daniel.”
“I live with you.”
“I know how paranoid you are about Lily’s allergy.”
Detective Collins quietly activated the recording device on the table.
I looked at her.
She nodded.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Driving.”
“To the hospital?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Michael immediately corrected himself.
“I mean, eventually.”
“I figured Evelyn would already be there.”
My eyes moved toward the hallway where officers had taken my mother-in-law away less than ten minutes earlier.
“How would you know Evelyn was here?”
Michael stopped speaking.
I could hear a turn signal clicking through the phone.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Then his voice returned.
“She called me.”
“When?”
“Before.”
“Before what?”
Michael exhaled sharply.
“Daniel, what is this?”
“You sound strange.”
Detective Collins wrote something on a notepad and slid it toward me.
KEEP HIM TALKING.
I swallowed.
“Lily almost died.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Silence again.
Michael’s breathing changed.
I heard the faint sound of traffic.
Then something heavier.
A truck horn.
He was on the highway.
“Someone from the luncheon told me,” he said.
“Who?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember who called to tell you your niece stopped breathing?”
His voice hardened.
“You’re upset.”
“Of course I’m upset.”
“Then stop interrogating me.”
Lily suddenly spoke from the bed.
“Uncle Mike?”
Michael went quiet.
Her voice trembled.
“Why did Grandma take Daddy’s medicine?”
Michael did not answer.
Lily looked at me.
Then she whispered another question.
“And why were you in my room this morning?”
My blood turned cold.
Detective Collins looked sharply toward Lily.
On the phone, Michael finally spoke.
“What is she talking about?”
Lily’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
“You opened Daddy’s red emergency bag.”
Michael disconnected the call.
The room went completely silent.
Detective Collins immediately stood.
“Daniel, did Michael have access to your house this morning?”
“He lives there.”
She reached for her radio.
“And where do you normally keep Lily’s backup injector?”
“In a locked cabinet beside her bedroom.”
Collins’ expression changed.
“Who knows the combination?”
I felt my stomach drop.
“Me.”
I looked toward Lily.
“And Michael.”
Within five minutes, two patrol units were heading toward my house.
I remained beside Lily while Collins coordinated the search.
Then my phone vibrated.
A text message from Michael appeared.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING.
A second message followed.
IF YOU WANT TO KEEP LILY SAFE, DON’T TRUST COLLINS.
Then a photograph appeared.
It showed my kitchen.
The picture had been taken only minutes earlier.
Michael had been inside my house while speaking to me.
May you like
And on the kitchen counter beside Lily’s red emergency bag sat something I recognized immediately.
The second injector.
