Chapter 2 - The Woman With the Pharmacy Bag
Ethan’s older sister, Victoria Blackwood, stepped around the corner.
She wore a cream silk blouse and carried a glass of wine.
Her expression changed when she saw the medicine bottle in Ethan’s hand.
Only for a second.
But I caught it.
“What are you doing up here?” Ethan asked.
Victoria smiled.
“I live here.”
“You were supposed to be at the charity dinner.”
“I came back early.”
Her eyes moved to me.
“Mara.”
“Victoria.”
Then she looked toward Noah’s bedroom.
“Is he all right?”
“He walked tonight,” Ethan said.
The wine glass stopped halfway to her mouth.
“What?”
“Eight steps.”
Victoria stared at him.
Then at me.
“That’s impossible.”
No one said anything.
She laughed nervously.
“I mean, wonderful. Obviously. But his neurologist said—”
“His neurologist may have been wrong.”
“That seems unlikely.”
Ethan lifted the bottle.
“So does this.”
Victoria looked at the bottle as if she did not recognize it.
“What about it?”
“Mara stopped giving Noah the medication yesterday.”
Her eyes snapped toward me.
“You did what?”
“His symptoms improved.”
“You had no authority.”
“I had a reason.”
“You could have killed him.”
Ethan watched his sister carefully.
“Mara thinks the pills may have been altered.”
Victoria’s face drained of color.
Not much.
Just enough.
“Altered?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“Maybe.”
“Who would do that?”
“I’m trying to find out.”
Victoria set the wine glass on a hall table.
“You don’t seriously believe someone inside this house would poison Noah.”
The word poison hung between us.
Ethan had not used it.
Neither had I.
Victoria realized her mistake.
“I mean tamper with his medicine.”
Ethan stared at her.
She straightened.
“You know what I meant.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“You pick up his prescriptions.”
Her chin lifted.
“Because you’re busy.”
“Every week?”
“Usually.”
“Who else?”
“Sometimes Daniel.”
Daniel Cross was Ethan’s chief of security.
He had been with the Blackwoods for twelve years.
Ethan trusted him more than his own blood.
At least he had yesterday.
Victoria folded her arms.
“Where is this coming from?”
Ethan handed me the bottle.
“Go downstairs.”
“What?”
“Both of you.”
Victoria laughed.
“I’m not one of your employees.”
“Tonight you are.”
The warmth disappeared from her face.
“No.”
Ethan’s voice remained quiet.
“Victoria.”
Something passed between them.
Old history.
Old authority.
She picked up her wine.
“Fine.”
We descended together.
By the time we reached the foyer, Daniel Cross was waiting.
He was forty-two, broad-shouldered, military posture, gray beginning at his temples.
Two guards stood behind him.
“What happened?” Daniel asked.
“Noah walked,” Ethan said.
Daniel smiled.
“That’s good.”
“The medicine may have been tampered with.”
The smile vanished.
“Not good.”
“Lock the house.”
Victoria turned.
“Excuse me?”
Daniel didn’t move.
Ethan repeated, “Lock the house.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“Exterior first?”
“All doors.”
“Staff?”
“Everyone stays.”
“Ethan,” Victoria said, “you cannot imprison thirty employees because a caregiver decided to play doctor.”
Ethan ignored her.
Daniel gave the order.
Within thirty seconds, the iron gates closed.
No cars moved.
No staff left.
I felt the mansion change around us.
It no longer felt like a home.
It felt like a sealed box.
Ethan pointed toward the sitting room.
“Inside.”
Victoria entered first.
Daniel followed.
I hesitated.
Ethan looked at me.
“You too.”
“Someone should stay with Noah.”
“I put Leo outside his door.”
Leo was one of the few guards Noah liked.
I nodded and entered.
Ethan placed the medicine bottle on the coffee table.
“We start simple,” he said.
“When was this bottle collected?”
Victoria answered immediately.
“Tuesday.”
“From?”
“Mercy Pharmacy.”
“Who went?”
“I did.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
Daniel interrupted.
“No.”
Victoria looked at him.
He continued.
“Driver took you.”
Her expression tightened.
“Obviously.”
“Which driver?” Ethan asked.
“Peter.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Peter was off Tuesday.”
Silence.
Victoria turned toward him.
“No, he wasn’t.”
“Yes.”
“Then Marcus.”
“Marcus was with me.”
Victoria stared at him.
I felt cold.
Ethan asked, “Who drove you?”
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“I don’t remember.”
“You just said Peter.”
“I assumed.”
“Then Marcus.”
“I corrected myself.”
“To another man who wasn’t there.”
She stood.
“This is ridiculous.”
Ethan remained seated.
“Sit down.”
“I am not being interrogated in my own family’s house.”
“Sit.”
She looked at him.
Then sat.
Daniel asked, “Do you have the pharmacy receipt?”
Victoria laughed.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because normal people don’t keep receipts for prescriptions.”
“I do,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I reached into the folder I had brought from Noah’s room.
“The pharmacy gives a printed receipt with every refill.”
I placed it beside the bottle.
Ethan showed Daniel the mismatched number.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s not a printing error.”
“How do you know?” Victoria asked.
“Because refill numbers are generated automatically.”
He picked up the bottle.
“If the receipt is genuine, this label came from somewhere else.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You’re accusing the pharmacy now?”
“No,” Daniel said.
“I’m saying this bottle didn’t come from the transaction on that receipt.”
Ethan leaned back.
“Get Mercy Pharmacy on the phone.”
Daniel called.
It took three minutes.
The pharmacist remembered the refill.
Mostly because Blackwood prescriptions were handled privately.
“Yes,” Daniel said into the phone.
“Tuesday.”
Pause.
“Who collected it?”
His eyes moved toward Victoria.
“Are you sure?”
Another pause.
“Send me the security footage.”
Victoria stood.
“I’m going upstairs.”
Ethan blocked the doorway.
“Sit.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Her face flushed.
“This is insane.”
Daniel ended the call.
“The pharmacist says Victoria didn’t collect the prescription Tuesday.”
Victoria stared at him.
“What?”
“He says their courier delivered it here.”
“To whom?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“You just said they keep records.”
“They do.”
Daniel looked toward Ethan.
“The delivery was signed for at the gate.”
“By who?”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“That’s the problem.”
Ethan stood.
“Who?”
“The signature says Mara Ellis.”
Every eye turned toward me.
I forgot how to breathe.
“That’s impossible.”
Victoria’s face transformed instantly.
Fear became outrage.
“She signed for it?”
“No.”
I looked at Daniel.
“I was with Noah Tuesday.”
“Can anyone confirm that?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Noah.”
Victoria laughed.
“A seven-year-old child.”
“I never went to the gate.”
Ethan studied me.
I hated what I saw in his eyes.
Doubt.
For the first time, doubt.
“Ethan.”
“Did you sign anything Tuesday?”
“No.”
“Did anyone ask for your name?”
“No.”
“Did you leave the east wing?”
“For lunch.”
“Where?”
“Kitchen.”
Victoria stood again.
“You brought a stranger into this house six months ago and gave her access to your son.”
“Stop.”
“She just admitted withholding his medication.”
“Because it was hurting him.”
“According to her.”
I turned toward Victoria.
“You knew he walked before anyone told you how many steps.”
She froze.
Ethan looked at her.
“What?”
Victoria recovered.
“I didn’t.”
“You said it was impossible before he told you the details.”
“Mara said he walked.”
“No,” I said.
“Ethan said he walked.”
“So?”
“You looked at the walker when you entered the hall.”
Victoria laughed.
“This is pathetic.”
Maybe it was.
Maybe I was desperate.
But something about her reaction bothered me.
Then Daniel’s phone buzzed.
He opened a video.
“Footage from Mercy.”
We gathered around.
Timestamp: Tuesday, 10:14 a.m.
A pharmacy employee carried a white paper bag through a rear door.
He handed it to a courier wearing a motorcycle helmet.
The courier signed electronically.
Daniel paused the frame.
“That’s not their regular courier.”
The pharmacist had texted the same thing.
Ethan looked at Victoria.
“Who knew the prescription schedule?”
“Everyone involved in Noah’s care.”
“That’s five people.”
“Plus staff.”
“No. Exact refill dates.”
Victoria’s eyes flicked toward me.
“Her.”
I shook my head.
“I never order it.”
Daniel said quietly, “I do.”
We turned.
He looked at Ethan.
“Your office receives the renewal notice. I authorize payment.”
“Who else has access?”
“My assistant.”
“What’s her name?”
“Sophie.”
Sophie Bennett was twenty-six.
Quiet.
Efficient.
Invisible in the way assistants often became invisible around powerful men.
I had seen her around Noah several times.
She brought files.
Coffee.
Once, a toy robot.
Noah liked her.
Daniel called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
He contacted the guard at the staff wing.
“Sophie’s room,” he ordered.
A minute passed.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Empty.”
Victoria whispered, “She left?”
“No one left after lockdown.”
“Then she’s somewhere inside.”
Ethan turned to his men.
“Find her.”
The mansion exploded into movement.
Guards went upstairs.
Others checked service corridors.
Daniel opened the security system.
I went toward Noah’s room.
Ethan followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To stay with him.”
“Leo’s there.”
“And if someone inside this house has been drugging him, I don’t care who’s there.”
He didn’t argue.
We hurried upstairs.
Halfway down the east corridor, we saw Leo.
He wasn’t outside Noah’s door.
He was kneeling.
Daniel sprinted past us.
Leo was conscious.
Barely.
Blood ran from a cut near his temple.
“What happened?”
Leo pointed toward Noah’s room.
“Woman.”
My stomach dropped.
I ran.
Ethan grabbed my arm.
“Behind me.”
He drew his gun.
We reached the bedroom.
The door stood open.
Noah’s bed was empty.
His wheelchair was gone.
On the pillow lay a folded piece of paper.
Ethan picked it up.
Three words had been written in black ink.
May you like
HE KNOWS TOO MUCH.
Then somewhere beneath us, a service door slammed shut.
