Chapter 1
I came home early and found my wife forcing a pill toward my sick mother’s mouth while our housekeeper screamed, “Don’t let her swallow that!”
My mother had been weak for two weeks, barely able to sit up in the guest room of our home outside Dallas.
My wife, Vanessa, kept telling me not to worry.
“She just needs rest,” she said every morning before I left for work.
That Thursday, my meeting ended three hours early.
I didn’t call ahead.
The moment I opened the front door, I heard shouting upstairs.
“Open your mouth, Evelyn,” Vanessa snapped.
Then I heard our housekeeper, Maria.
“No! Stop!”
I ran toward my mother’s room.
Vanessa was leaning over the bed with one hand under my mother’s jaw.
In her other hand was a small white pill.
My mother’s face was pale, and tears were running into her hair.
Maria grabbed Vanessa’s wrist.
“I said don’t give her that!”
“What the hell is going on?” I shouted.
Vanessa spun around so fast the pill almost fell from her fingers.
Then she pointed at Maria.
“Thank God you’re home. She’s completely out of control.”
Maria stared at her.
“You’re lying.”
Vanessa’s voice cracked.
“She attacked me because I was trying to give your mother her medication.”
I looked at my mother.
“Mom?”
She tried to speak, but Vanessa quickly said, “She’s confused again. I told you this was getting worse.”
Maria stepped between them.
“That is not her medication.”
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“Of course it is.”
“Then show him the bottle.”
The room went silent.
I looked at Vanessa.
“Where’s the bottle?”
She crossed her arms.
“Downstairs, probably.”
Maria reached into the pocket of her apron.
“No. It was in the bathroom trash.”
She pulled out a prescription bottle.
My wife’s face changed.
I took it from Maria.
The name on the label wasn’t my mother’s.
It was Vanessa’s.
“What is this?” I asked.
Vanessa reached for it.
“Give me that.”
Maria grabbed my arm.
“Before you do anything, ask your mother why she stopped drinking the tea Vanessa brings her every night.”
I turned toward the bed.
My mother’s fingers were trembling.
She slowly pointed toward the nightstand.
Under the lamp was a folded piece of paper.
Vanessa suddenly lunged for it.
I got there first.
And when I opened it, I saw my mother’s handwriting.
May you like
Three words were underlined so hard the paper had nearly torn.
SHE’S POISONING ME.
