Poisoned by His Love novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: The Mother
The lab report was one page.
The tech set it on the counter at six forty and watched my face.
Sample: liquid from a small brown glass bottle. Thallium sulfate, high concentration.
It was a single line, and it changed everything.
"A drop of that in a glass of wine is a bad night," she said quietly.
"A drop a day in tea is a slow funeral."
I folded the page into my pocket.
"Sign the chain of custody," she said. "In case anyone asks."
I signed.
Ruggero's mother lived in a narrow brick rowhouse on a street in Little Italy, three blocks from St. Anthony's.
I took a cab, because the driver at the Vasari house would have called Sandro.
The cab let me out at eight-thirty.
The white marble step had been scrubbed so often that it dipped in the middle.
I rang the bell with the lab report flat against my ribs.
A young man in a black suit opened the door.
He was one of the three Orsini men who had eaten Sunday dinner without looking up.
"Signora Vasari," he said, and his face went blank. "You can't be here."
"I'm here to see his mother."
"She's getting ready. The car comes at nine."
"Then I'll be quick."
"I can't let you in."
"Let the girl in," called a voice from inside.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Poisoned by His Love are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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