Chapter 3 - The Poison Bottle
Daniel reached the dispensary before Elena did.
She followed anyway.
No one stopped her once Daniel started shouting.
The bottle sat on a metal tray beneath a gas lamp. Pale blue glass. White label. Elena’s name written in black ink.
Her stomach turned.
She had taken one spoonful every night for six weeks.
Dr. Mercer folded his arms. “The concentration is low.”
Daniel stared at him. “Low enough to do what?”
“Cause dizziness. Confusion. Increased heart rate.”
“Premature labor?” Elena asked.
Mercer looked at her.
“Possibly.”
“And if I died during childbirth?”
No one answered.
Daniel picked up the bottle.
A second label had been pasted beneath the first.
He peeled it back.
The original pharmacy mark appeared.
HART & SONS APOTHECARY.
Daniel’s face changed.
“I know them.”
Elena looked at him. “Of course you do.”
“I bought Mother’s heart medicine there.”
Mercer reached for the bottle. “This should remain in my custody.”
Elena took it first.
“No.”
“Mrs. Whitmore—”
“Doctor, if you touch me again without permission, I will scream loudly enough for every patient in this building to learn exactly what you injected into a pregnant woman.”
Mercer stopped.
A slow clap came from the doorway.
Rosa stood there.
Her left hand was wrapped in bloody cloth.
Elena almost collapsed with relief.
“Rosa.”
The old maid crossed the room and hugged her.
“You foolish girl. Why are you out of bed?”
“Where have you been?”
“Making sure they couldn’t bury the truth with the carriage.”
Victoria appeared in the hall behind her.
Everyone went silent.
She looked at the bottle in Elena’s hand.
Then at Rosa.
“You stole from me.”
Rosa smiled. “Many times.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
Daniel stepped between them. “Mother, did you poison Elena?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the belladonna?”
“No.”
Rosa laughed.
Victoria turned. “Do you have something to say?”
“I saw you give Hart the first bottle.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
Rosa continued. “I followed your driver six weeks ago. He met the pharmacist after midnight.”
Victoria did not blink.
“Then perhaps you should tell Daniel who paid Hart the next morning.”
Rosa’s smile vanished.
Elena looked at Daniel.
He looked suddenly sick.
“Daniel?”
Victoria’s voice softened. “Tell your wife.”
He set the bottle down.
“I paid the pharmacist.”
Elena felt something inside her go quiet.
“How much?”
“Five hundred dollars.”
“For what?”
“To tell me who ordered the mixture.”
“And?”
Daniel looked at Mercer.
Then at Elena.
“He gave me a name.”
“Whose?”
Daniel reached inside his coat and pulled out a receipt.
The signature at the bottom belonged to Samuel Pike.
Elena’s family lawyer.
Hart & Sons was still open when Daniel sent a driver for the pharmacist. Mr. Hart arrived pale and sweating. He denied everything until Elena placed the bottle in front of him.
“You wrote my name on this.”
He stared at the floor.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“Were you trying to kill my child?”
“No, ma’am. God, no.”
“Then who told you the dose was safe?”
Hart’s eyes moved to Mercer.
The doctor’s face changed by almost nothing, but Daniel saw it.
Hart whispered, “I was told it would make Mrs. Whitmore look unstable. Fainting. Confusion. Enough for temporary control of the estate.”
Victoria said, “By whom?”
Hart’s mouth opened, then closed.
“I never met him. Messages came through the Pike office.”
Samuel Pike’s name again.
Elena felt the shape of the conspiracy shift. If Victoria wanted her dead and somebody else wanted her merely incompetent, then there were at least two plans moving around her. Competing plans were sometimes more dangerous than a single enemy.
The man Rosa claimed had witnessed the second will.
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