Chapter 2 - The Two White Tablets
Nico locked the bedroom door himself.
Adeline stood beside the empty medication cabinet with both hands flat on the dresser so he would not see them shake.
“Start over,” he said.
“There were two tablets mixed into your baclofen bottle.”
“What color?”
“White.”
“Everything in that bottle is white.”
“These were flatter. Different scoring line.”
“Could the pharmacy have changed manufacturers?”
“I checked the pharmacy records.”
He stared at her.
“You did that before tonight?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you suspected this?”
“Six days.”
Nico looked toward the locked door.
“Six days.”
“I needed proof.”
“You needed to tell me.”
“I needed to know whether I was wrong before I told a man with thirty armed employees that someone inside his house might be changing his medication.”
His jaw tightened.
“That was supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
For a second, neither spoke.
Then something moved under the blanket over his left leg.
A small contraction.
Adeline saw it.
Nico saw her see it.
“What?”
“Did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Your thigh.”
He looked down.
“It spasms.”
“Only before medication?”
His eyes lifted.
“Sometimes.”
“After?”
“Less.”
“How much less?”
He leaned back.
“You’re not answering my question.”
“I am. Just not the one you asked.”
She opened the laptop on his desk.
The pharmacy portal showed the prescription history.
Same manufacturer.
Same dosage.
Same tablet code for eight months.
Adeline turned the screen toward him.
“The pills in that bottle did not match.”
Nico stared at the page.
“Who filled my organizer yesterday?”
“Camille.”
His face closed.
“But the sealed bottle came from the pharmacy,” Adeline said. “Which means if the bottle was altered, it happened after delivery.”
A knock hit the door.
Three short taps.
Victor.
“Nico.”
Neither answered.
“Nico, open the door.”
Nico rolled closer.
“What?”
“We need to control this before guests start talking.”
“I don’t care about guests.”
“You should.”
“No.”
Victor lowered his voice through the wood.
“Camille says the nurse stole your medication.”
“She says a lot of things.”
Adeline looked at Nico.
He looked back.
Victor tried the handle.
Locked.
The metal clicked twice.
Then stopped.
Nico’s expression changed.
His uncle had expected the door to open.
Victor said, “We’ll discuss this in the morning.”
His footsteps receded.
Adeline went to the door and waited.
No sound.
Nico said, “Open it.”
She did.
The hallway was empty.
But at the end of the corridor, the service stair door swung slowly toward its frame.
Someone had just passed through.
Adeline crossed to the medication cabinet.
She ran her finger over the lock.
No damage.
The electronic cabinet log glowed blue.
“Who programmed this?”
“Victor’s office.”
She opened the access history.
Rows of names.
Adeline.
Nico.
Camille.
Victor.
Then dozens of entries stamped between two and three in the morning.
Nico leaned closer.
“Two thirteen.”
Again.
2:13 a.m.
Again.
2:13.
Again.
Adeline’s mouth went dry.
“I’m asleep then.”
“So am I.”
“Camille?”
“Usually in the guest wing.”
They looked at the name beside the entries.
VICTOR ALFIERI.
Nico said nothing.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Victor.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT HER.
Nico turned the screen facedown.
Adeline opened a drawer and removed a spare bottle delivered that afternoon.
Still sealed.
She cut the tamper ring.
Correct tablets.
She checked the code.
Matched the pharmacy.
“This one is clean.”
Nico watched.
Adeline took a small clear container from her bag.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving one.”
“For what?”
“Comparison.”
She slipped a tablet inside.
Nico laughed without humor.
“You always carry specimen containers?”
“I work in this house.”
That almost made him smile.
Almost.
Then the hall light under the door went dark.
Someone stopped outside.
Adeline froze.
The handle did not move.
A faint click sounded instead.
Metal against metal.
A key.
Nico reached to the side table and opened the shallow drawer.
Inside was a compact black pistol.
Adeline stared at him.
“You have a gun in your bedroom?”
He looked at her.
“You live in my bedroom.”
The key turned.
The door opened one inch.
Adeline stepped behind it.
Nico raised the gun.
A shadow entered.
Victor.
He wore thin blue medical gloves.
He did not see Adeline at first.
He walked straight to the cabinet.
Opened it.
May you like
Removed the sealed baclofen bottle Adeline had just checked.
And began switching the pills.
