Chapter 3 - THE MEDICINE IN HIS BLOOD
The sedative was clonazepam.
Ethan had no prescription for it.
Neither did Victor.
Serena did.
Her attorney said one of her tablets must have fallen onto the floor and been swallowed accidentally.
Dr. Feld rejected the explanation as unlikely.
The concentration suggested Ethan had ingested part of a tablet one to three hours before the injury.
He had been unusually sleepy during dinner.
I remembered carrying him away from the dining room because his head kept falling against my shoulder.
Serena said he had missed his nap.
I had accepted that too.
Detective Cole requested Serena’s medication bottle.
Serena said it was at the estate.
Police found the bottle in her dressing room.
The prescription had been filled with thirty tablets.
Only seventeen remained.
Serena said she sometimes took two during panic attacks.
Pharmacy directions allowed one.
Her doctor would have to confirm usage.
The evidence suggested access.
It did not yet prove dosing.
At dawn, child protective services placed an emergency hold preventing Serena from contacting Ethan.
Victor remained at the hospital under a safety plan.
He was not accused of assaulting his son.
He was required to explain how repeated injuries occurred inside his home without his knowledge.
He looked offended when the social worker said it.
Then he looked through the glass at Ethan’s sleeping face.
“I traveled too much.”
“That may be part of it,” she said. “We will examine the entire environment.”
He signed the plan.
Serena did not.
Through her attorney, she accused me of drugging Ethan and staging the foyer scene.
The story reached the press before breakfast.
A headline described me as a disgruntled servant with access to a wealthy child.
My photograph appeared beside the Blackwood mansion.
The image came from my employee identification card.
Only the household office possessed it.
Victor’s public relations director issued a cautious statement:
Mr. Blackwood is focused on his son’s recovery and cooperating fully.
No defense of me.
I told myself he needed facts.
The frightened part of me heard class.
A wealthy fiancée remained Ms. Montigue.
I became the maid.
Detective Cole asked whether I would allow a search of my room.
“Yes.”
Officers examined my clothing, medicines, phone, laptop, and drawers.
They found nothing illegal.
Then one officer lifted the mattress.
Beneath it lay a small velvet pouch.
Inside were three clonazepam tablets and Amelia Blackwood’s missing sapphire bracelet.
I had never seen the pouch.
Serena reported the bracelet stolen two months earlier.
Her attorney announced that the search proved motive and access.
I stared at the evidence bag.
“She put that there.”
“Can you prove it?” Detective Cole asked.
“No.”
My room had no camera.
Household master keys opened every employee door.
Serena possessed one.
So did the housekeeper and security director.
Police did not arrest me immediately.
The planted—or hidden—medicine required fingerprint and trace analysis.
The bracelet established possible theft but not assault.
Still, the hospital removed me from Ethan’s room while investigators reviewed risk.
He woke after I left.
A nurse told me he asked for Lily.
I sat in a waiting area two floors away, unable to see him.
Victor found me there.
“The bracelet was Amelia’s.”
“I didn’t take it.”
“I know Serena entered staff rooms sometimes.”
“Do you believe she planted it?”
“I believe it needs investigation.”
His caution felt like a door closing.
“You saw her dragging him.”
“Yes.”
“She kicked me.”
“I saw the mark.”
“She wrote the incident report before it happened.”
“I know.”
“Then why do you sound uncertain?”
Victor sat across from me.
“Because my son has been hurt more than once while every adult in my house tells a different story.”
The answer was fair.
It still hurt.
He handed me a copy of the first two incident reports.
My signature appeared at the bottom of each.
It looked almost perfect.
I had not signed them.
Then I saw the witness name.
Both were approved by Dr. Adrian Wells, a private child-development consultant Serena hired six months earlier.
He had never examined Ethan in my presence.
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At the bottom of the third prewritten report, Dr. Wells had already signed his name.
He had certified an injury before it occurred.
