Chapter 4 - THE EASY SUSPECT
Detective Harris asked Maya to empty her pockets.
She placed her phone, keys, lip balm, and folded bus pass on a table in a hospital consultation room.
“Have you administered medication to Mr. Moretti?”
“Oral medication from labeled packets.
Never injections.”
“Did you bring medication into the house?”
“No.”
“Why did you seek employment there?”
Maya hesitated.
Harris noticed.
She told him about Daniel.
He wrote something down.
Through the narrow window in the door, she could see Vivienne speaking with another officer.
A handkerchief rested against her cheek.
Then Harris’s phone vibrated.
He listened.
His expression hardened.
“Officers found several vials in your locker at the estate.”
Maya stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“Who has access to the locker?”
“Housekeeping.
Security.
Vivienne.”
“Was it locked?”
“It doesn’t have a lock.”
Harris put down his pen.
“Ms. Bennett, I need you to understand how this looks.”
“I understand exactly how she wants it to look.”
Before he could answer, the door opened.
A nurse stood outside.
“Mr. Moretti is asking for you.
Both of you.”
Luca was sitting upright when they entered.
For the first time, Maya could see anger cutting through his exhaustion.
“Show him your phone,” he said.
She frowned.
“What?”
“You were recording before you called the ambulance.”
Maya remembered pressing the side button when Vivienne first reached for the syringe.
A habit she had developed after Daniel’s accident, when every conversation with company representatives became a disagreement about what had been said.
Her hands shook as she opened the recording.
Vivienne’s voice filled the room.
Nate, lock the door.
Then Luca’s.
How long have you been bringing those upstairs?
Harris listened without moving.
When it ended, he asked Maya to send him the original file.
Vivienne appeared in the doorway.
“What is this?”
Luca looked at the nurse.
“I don’t want her in here.”
“Luca, please.”
“Leave.”
She stared at him.
Then she looked at Maya, and the grief disappeared from her face.
It was only a second.
Harris saw it too.
After she left, Luca took a slow breath.
“I still don’t trust you,” he told Maya.
“I know.”
“But I know who stopped the needle.”
Harris’s phone rang again.
This time, he stepped into the hallway.
When he returned, he looked at Luca.
May you like
“Your wife’s attorney has filed an emergency petition.
She says you’re mentally incapable of making your own decisions.”
