Chapter 4: A Secret That Destroyed Everything
The police station felt colder than the morgue.
Detective Harris placed a photograph on the table.
I recognized the man immediately.
Not because I knew him.
Because I had seen him once before.
At our house.
Three months earlier.
Daniel had introduced him as an old college friend named Victor.
They disappeared into the garage for almost an hour.
When I asked what they had been talking about, Daniel simply laughed.
"Business ideas."
The detective slid another photograph across the table.
Victor.
Real name: Victor Kane.
Age forty-one.
Former pharmaceutical sales representative.
Recently fired.
Currently under investigation for selling counterfeit medications and illegally imported food products.
My pulse quickened.
"What does this have to do with Mia?"
Detective Harris folded his hands.
"The candy wasn't ordinary."
He handed me a laboratory report.
It contained concentrated peanut protein.
Far stronger than anything found in normal candy.
Enough to trigger an immediate fatal reaction in a highly allergic child.
I couldn't process the words.
"Are you saying..."
"We believe it was deliberate."
The room spun.
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"There has to be another explanation."
"There is."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"We found financial records."
He placed another folder before me.
Forty-eight thousand dollars.
Transferred from Daniel's account.
To Victor Kane.
Three days before Mia died.
I pushed away from the table.
"No..."
Then Detective Harris spoke the sentence that shattered whatever remained of my life.
May you like
"Mrs. Carter..."
"We believe your husband paid Victor to obtain that candy."
