Chapter 3 - The Bottle in Lily’s Bag
Detective Ava Mercer arrived at St. Catherine’s Hospital shortly before one in the morning.
She wore a dark suit beneath a raincoat.
Her hair was tied at the base of her neck.
She did not introduce herself with unnecessary warmth.
She showed her badge, studied everyone in the corridor, and asked for a private room.
Victor refused to leave Ethan’s floor.
The hospital provided a consultation office thirty feet from the boy’s room.
Lily sat on one side of the table.
Victor stood near the window.
Marco joined them through a secured video call from the mansion.
Detective Mercer placed a photograph of the bottle on the table.
“Do you recognize it?”
Lily looked at the amber container.
The pharmacy label had been removed.
“I saw a bottle like that in Serena’s bathroom last month.”
“What were you doing in her bathroom?”
“She asked me to bring towels.”
“Did you touch it?”
“No.”
“Have you ever handled this medication at the hospital where you worked?”
“Possibly.”
Lily kept her voice steady.
“Thousands of bottles passed through my hands.”
Mercer looked at her notes.
“Your prints are on the cap and the side.”
Lily searched her memory.
Nothing came.
Then she remembered Serena entering the nursery eight days earlier.
She had carried several cosmetic bottles in a small basket.
She had asked Lily to hold the basket while she adjusted Ethan’s curtains.
“I may have touched it without knowing.”
Mercer raised an eyebrow.
“That is convenient.”
Victor stepped away from the window.
“Detective.”
Mercer did not look intimidated.
“Mr. Blackwood, I understand that Ms. Carter protected your child tonight.”
“I also understand that medication linked to your child’s condition was found in her belongings.”
“It was planted.”
“Perhaps.”
Mercer closed the photograph inside the file.
“My job is to prove what happened, not choose the version that makes anyone comfortable.”
Victor’s expression remained controlled.
“I want the same thing.”
“Then allow me to question her.”
“I am allowing it.”
“You are answering for her.”
Victor’s jaw moved slightly.
Lily spoke before he could respond.
“I’ll answer everything.”
Mercer studied Lily.
“Did you sedate Ethan?”
“No.”
“Did you ever give him medication not prescribed by Dr. Moreno?”
“No.”
“Did Serena know about your previous nursing employment?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know about your documentation error?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I told the household agency when I applied.”
Mercer glanced toward Victor.
“Did you know?”
Victor did not answer immediately.
“No.”
Lily looked at him.
“The agency said the family had received my entire record.”
“I received a summary.”
Victor’s voice became colder.
“The background report stated that you resigned for personal reasons.”
“Serena handled the final interviews.”
Marco spoke through the monitor.
“She also replaced two agency references before Ms. Carter was hired.”
Everyone looked toward the screen.
Victor’s expression sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
“I found correspondence on the household server.”
Marco’s face was tense.
“Serena requested Ms. Carter specifically.”
Lily stared at him.
“That isn’t possible.”
“I had never met her.”
Mercer leaned closer to the screen.
“Why did she request her?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Marco lifted a printed email.
“She told the agency that Ms. Carter’s pediatric experience made her ideal.”
“She also asked that Victor not be informed about the nursing resignation.”
Lily felt the floor shift beneath her.
Serena had known about Claire.
She had known about Lily’s father.
She had known which professional weakness could be used against her.
The nanny position had not been chance.
It had been a selection.
“She wanted me inside the house,” Lily whispered.
Victor looked at her.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Detective Mercer tapped the table.
“Let’s return to tonight.”
She asked Lily to describe every minute from lunch until Victor entered the foyer.
Lily explained Serena’s arrival.
She described the blue cup of juice.
She described Ethan growing tired.
She described Serena dismissing two maids.
She described the moment Serena carried Ethan upstairs despite Lily’s objections.
The recorder had begun running at four thirty because Lily wanted to document Ethan’s breathing after the juice.
Serena had discovered it on the nursery table.
She had ordered Lily to turn it off.
Lily had pretended to comply.
She had slipped it into her pocket instead.
“What happened before the foyer?” Mercer asked.
“Ethan woke up crying.”
“Why?”
“I heard something fall upstairs.”
“I went to the nursery.”
“Serena was holding him by the wrist.”
“She said he had broken a porcelain horse.”
“Had he?”
“No.”
“The horse was on a shelf he could not reach.”
“Then she dragged him downstairs.”
“Why downstairs?”
“She said the staff needed to see what happened when rules were ignored.”
Mercer’s face remained professional.
Only her eyes changed.
“She intended to punish a fourteen-month-old child publicly?”
“Yes.”
Victor turned toward the window.
His reflection in the glass looked like a stranger.
“How many staff members were present?” Mercer asked.
“Three at first.”
“Rosa Delgado.”
“Peter Lang, the butler.”
“And Naomi Wells, a housemaid.”
“Where are they now?”
“Rosa is at the mansion.”
“Peter left before Victor arrived.”
“Naomi disappeared after Serena kicked me.”
Marco looked away from the screen.
Mercer noticed.
“What?”
“We cannot find Naomi Wells.”
“Her coat and purse are gone.”
“The service gate log shows no departure.”
Victor faced him.
“Search the grounds.”
“We are.”
“Find Peter Lang too.”
Marco nodded.
Mercer asked Lily about the camera.
Lily explained that the red light had been on that morning.
It was off when Serena began dragging Ethan.
Marco confirmed that someone with administrator-level access disabled the entire west corridor system at 5:12 p.m.
“Who has that access?” Mercer asked.
“Victor.”
“Me.”
“Two technicians.”
“And you?”
“Yes.”
“Serena?”
Marco hesitated.
“She was not supposed to.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“I discovered an administrator profile created under the initials S.M.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Why did you not know before?”
“It was hidden beneath a maintenance account.”
Mercer leaned back.
“This required planning.”
Victor’s phone vibrated.
Dr. Moreno was calling from Ethan’s room.
He answered immediately.
The boy had awakened in distress.
Victor left the office.
Lily rose instinctively.
Mercer gestured for her to remain.
“He needs me.”
“He has his father.”
Lily sat again.
Through the glass wall, she watched Victor enter Ethan’s room.
The child calmed only slightly.
Mercer followed Lily’s gaze.
“You care about him.”
“Yes.”
“That can become dangerous.”
Lily looked at her.
“Caring?”
“Believing that love excuses poor judgment.”
“I did not hurt him.”
“I did not say you did.”
Mercer lowered her voice.
“However, Serena Montigue’s lawyer has already given the press a statement.”
Lily’s stomach tightened.
“What statement?”
“That a former nurse with a troubled history assaulted Ethan and attacked Serena when she intervened.”
Victor returned before Lily could respond.
He had heard the final sentence.
“Who is her lawyer?”
“Graham Cavanaugh.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Lily noticed it.
“You know him.”
“He represented my uncle during a federal investigation.”
“Which uncle?”
“Julian Blackwood.”
Mercer closed her notebook.
“That seems relevant.”
Victor did not answer.
His phone rang again.
This time Marco was calling directly.
Victor put the call on speaker.
“We found Naomi,” Marco said.
“Where?”
“Inside the old linen room beneath the west staircase.”
Lily stood.
“Is she hurt?”
“She was locked inside.”
“She says Serena took her phone.”
“Put her on.”
There was movement on the line.
A frightened woman began to speak.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
“Naomi.”
Victor’s voice softened only slightly.
“Tell me what you saw.”
Naomi’s breathing shook.
“I saw Miss Montigue put something in Lily’s bag.”
The room became still.
“When?”
“After Lily ran toward the nursery.”
“What did she put inside?”
“A small bottle.”
“Why didn’t you stop her?”
“She saw me.”
Naomi began crying.
“She said she would tell immigration officers that my mother had lied on her paperwork.”
“She said my entire family would be taken away.”
Mercer’s expression hardened.
“Did she lock you in the linen room?”
“No.”
“Mr. Lang did.”
Victor’s gaze sharpened.
“The butler?”
“Yes.”
“He told me it was for my own protection.”
“Then he took my phone.”
Marco’s voice returned.
“Peter Lang’s car is still here, but he is gone.”
“Search his apartment,” Mercer ordered.
“My officers will meet you.”
Victor looked at Lily.
The bottle no longer made her the only suspect.
It did not completely clear her either.
Mercer understood that.
“Naomi’s testimony helps you,” she said.
“It does not explain your fingerprints.”
Lily remembered the basket.
She described it.
Mercer asked for dates, rooms, and witnesses.
Marco found Serena’s calendar entry for the same afternoon.
The meeting was listed as “nursery preparation.”
Victor looked at the photograph again.
“She made Lily touch it.”
Mercer nodded slowly.
“That is likely.”
Dr. Moreno entered without knocking.
She carried the results of Ethan’s earlier blood tests.
“I found something you need to see.”
She placed four laboratory reports beside each other.
Ethan’s blood had been stored after each breathing episode.
The hospital had preserved the samples because his symptoms had been unexplained.
The same sedative appeared in three of them.
The dosages were small.
They were not enough to leave him unconscious.
They were enough to suppress breathing in a child his age.
Victor read the dates.
On every date, he had been traveling.
Serena had been with Ethan.
Lily felt anger push through her fear.
“She was making him sick.”
Dr. Moreno nodded.
“It appears someone was.”
“Why?” Mercer asked.
Victor looked at the dates again.
The first incident had occurred three days before he changed his estate plan.
His lawyer had advised creating a medical guardianship provision because Ethan’s health appeared unstable.
Serena had offered to become the secondary guardian.
Victor had postponed signing.
A week later, Ethan had suffered another episode.
Then another.
“She wanted control of the trust,” Victor said.
Mercer’s gaze moved toward him.
“How much is involved?”
Victor did not hesitate.
“Approximately four billion dollars.”
No one spoke.
Marco’s voice broke the silence from the monitor.
“There is another problem.”
“What?”
“We found Peter Lang’s apartment.”
“Most of it has been emptied.”
“However, there is a wall safe.”
“Open it.”
“We did.”
Marco lifted a photograph toward the camera.
Inside the safe were stacks of cash.
A second photograph showed passports under different names.
A third showed a Blackwood security badge.
It belonged to Marco.
“I never gave him that,” Marco said.
Mercer leaned toward the screen.
“Is it real?”
“It appears real.”
“Can it disable cameras?”
“Yes.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
Marco continued.
“There was also a folder.”
“What kind of folder?”
“It contained medical records for Ethan.”
“Copies?”
“Not only Ethan’s.”
Marco lifted one final page.
At the top was a name Lily had not seen in eighteen months.
Claire Carter.
Her missing sister.
Beneath Claire’s name was a payment authorization from the Montigue Foundation.
The amount was two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
The payment date was three days after Claire disappeared.
Victor looked at Lily.
Her face had lost all color.
“What was your sister doing before she vanished?”
Lily could barely speak.
“She was an accountant.”
“For whom?”
“The Montigue Foundation.”
Victor slowly turned toward the rain-covered window.
Serena had not hired Lily because she needed a nanny.
She had brought Lily into the mansion because Lily was connected to a woman who had discovered something worth killing for.
Detective Mercer gathered the photographs.
“We need to find Peter Lang.”
Marco answered quietly.
“I think he has already found us.”
The lights behind Marco suddenly went out.
The video feed shook.
May you like
A gunshot sounded through the speaker.
Then the screen went black.
