Chapter 13: Play

I pressed the button, and the white wall above the sofa lit up.

"Everyone, please come back to the living room," I said. "Lacey showed you her gift. Now I'd like to show you mine."

The guests drifted back down the hall with their champagne.

Lacey came last.

"Elise, sweetheart, this isn't the time," she said, still smiling for the room. "You're overwrought."

"It will take five minutes."

The first picture filled the wall.

It was Lacey's garage, with the padlock lying cut on the concrete and the refrigerator door standing open.

Every shelf was packed with white boxes, and every box had a pharmacy sticker.

"Those are my fertility shots," I said. "Thirty-one boxes, all sealed. I found them in this house yesterday."

Somebody's glass tipped, and champagne ran down a sleeve.

The next picture showed the bottom shelf, where a row of clear bags sat full of liquid.

The label on the nearest one was large enough for the back row to read.

"Sodium chloride," the donor's wife near the door read aloud. "Isn't that salt water?"

"She broke into my home," Lacey said. Her voice shook. "Everyone, you can see she isn't well."

"I have one more," I said.

I pressed the button.

My kitchen came up on the wall.

It showed my counter, my lamp, and a towel spread under a tray.

Lacey's voice filled the room, warm and gentle.

"Night one hundred. You're doing amazing, sweetheart. Look at the window."

Her hand came into the frame with the silver bracelet on it.

Davis had cued the video to the frame he'd enlarged.

The picture froze on a clear plastic bag with a blue cap.

Then it ran.

The hand drew the liquid out of the bag, and the sealed vial stood untouched beside it.

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