Phoenix Of Ruin: My Second Life Comes With A Better Man novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Thermos

Leigh held out her wrists herself.

"I'll come," she said. "Conroy, don't fight them."

The officer slowly closed the handcuffs.

Behind her, Talia let out a small sound that might have been a sob and might have been a laugh.

The interview room at the station had one table, two chairs and a camera in the corner.

Leigh sat down and kept her hands flat on the metal.

The detective across from her was tired and middle-aged, and he had already read the hospital report.

"Ms. Aldrich," he said. "Ms. Whitby drank tea from her own thermos at lunch, and an hour later she was in the emergency room. The doctor says there was a toxin in her blood. Her family says you were alone with the thermos."

"I wasn't," Leigh said. "There were twelve people at that table."

"But you poured the tea."

"No. Talia did."

He looked up.

"She brought the thermos from home, and she filled her own cup. Anyone at that table will say so if you ask them one at a time, away from Blaine."

She was saying this because last time she had been too scared to say it.

"What was in her blood?" she asked.

"Pending."

"When you find out, look in her handbag," Leigh said. "She has a prescription bottle of the same drug. Check the label. Check the date."

The detective's pen stopped.

"How would you know what's in her handbag?"

"Because she takes a pill with every meal," Leigh said. "I have watched her do it for two years."

He studied her for a long moment.

Then he stood up and went out, and through the glass she saw him talk to another officer and point back at the room.

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