Chapter 10 - The Poisoned Prescription
The revelation hit Rebecca like a physical blow. A bronchial sedative. A drug that suppressed respiration and masked the early stages of acute respiratory distress.
"He didn't just delay the hospital drive," Rebecca said, rising to her feet, her voice trembling with horror and realization. "Toby was coughing for two days before the storm. Darren kept offering to give him his nighttime cough syrup. He insisted on doing it himself every night, saying I was too exhausted and needed to sleep."
Sheriff Miller’s face was grim stone. "Detective Alvarez already sent the residue from the empty bottles found in the kitchen trash to the state toxicology lab in Sacramento. If that Mexican sedative matches the traces in Toby’s tissue samples retained from the autopsy..."
"Then Darren didn't just commit manslaughter," Rebecca choked out, tears of horror spilling over her cheeks. "He poisoned our baby. He slowly smothered his lungs to make it look like natural pneumonia."
"We need to move fast," Miller said. "Judge Harrison has already signed an emergency exhumation order for toxicological re-testing, but Blackwood Crest’s legal team is already filing emergency injunctions to block it. Sterling claims that exhuming Toby is an 'unlawful harassment tactic' designed to prejudice the jury against Darren in the civil property dispute."
"Richard Sterling knows," Rebecca snarled, anger instantly burning through the horror. "Sterling knew about the life insurance! That was the bridge collateral for the development loan!"
"We suspect so," Miller agreed. "Sterling’s firm was the guarantor on Darren’s offshore loan. If Darren goes down for capital murder, Blackwood Crest gets dragged into a federal racketeering and accessory-to-murder indictment. Sterling is going to do everything in his power to bury this evidence, Rebecca. And he has mercenaries on his payroll, not just lawyers."
Outside, lightning tore across the slate-gray sky, followed by a low rumble of thunder that shook the old farmhouse windows. The storm was rolling down from the peaks, thick and heavy.
May you like
Sheriff Miller looked out the front window, his hand dropping instinctively to the service pistol on his belt. "I'm stationing two deputies at the base of your driveway tonight, Rebecca. You shouldn't be alone out here on the ridge."
"No," Rebecca said, her eyes burning with an unshakable fire. "This is my home. This has been Lawson land for a century and a half. I spent the last three days running from my own shadow because Darren made me feel weak. I am done hiding."
