Chapter 6 - Margaret’s Prescription Created a New Kind of Guilt

Margaret Reed did not deny the prescription.

She denied giving the pills to Lily.

The medication had been prescribed after a minor surgical procedure.

She said she used it twice.

Then stored the bottle in a bathroom cabinet.

When police searched her house, the bottle was gone.

“When did you last see it?” Nolan asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Before Lily died?”

“Months before.”

“Who had access?”

“My husband before he died. Jason. Cleaning staff. Family.”

Margaret’s husband had been dead two years.

The cleaning service had no obvious connection.

Jason had a key.

The prescription source did not prove Margaret drugged Lily.

It proved the sedative had passed through her household.

That distinction mattered, even while my anger resisted it.

Nolan asked whether Margaret had ever given medication to Jason.

“No.”

“Did he know where you kept it?”

“He grew up in that house.”

“That is not an answer.”

Margaret’s face collapsed.

“Yes. Probably.”

Police searched Jason’s car and office under warrants.

No pills.

No bottle.

But his office trash contained pieces of the page he tore from Lily’s documents.

Forensic reconstruction identified it as a Crestline payment schedule.

That transformed the financial investigation.

Northpoint’s board placed Jason on leave.

A forensic accounting firm was hired.

Derek Shaw retained counsel and stopped answering calls.

Within days, Jason had moved from grieving husband to executive under scrutiny.

He blamed me publicly.

Not by name.

His attorney issued a statement accusing “certain family members” of exploiting tragedy to create a false criminal narrative.

I wanted to answer.

Daniel stopped me.

“Do not litigate grief through local news.”

I hated him.

He remained correct.

The autopsy classification had originally been accidental fall with traumatic injuries.

The medical examiner reopened the manner-of-death review based on toxicology and new evidence.

Not changed to homicide.

Reopened.

I learned to respect the space between suspicion and conclusion.

It was unbearable.

Jason agreed to a second police interview through counsel.

He admitted being at Northpoint at 8:45.

He said he lied initially because he feared the financial argument would make Lily’s accident look suspicious.

That logic was circular enough to be almost impressive.

He admitted taking the envelope from Margaret.

Admitted confronting Lily.

Admitted knowing the blue pills existed.

That stopped everyone.

“How?” Nolan asked.

Jason’s lawyer objected to the phrasing.

Jason answered anyway.

“Lily showed me.”

“When?”

“That night.”

“Why did she show you?”

“She said someone had changed her medication.”

“Did you know who?”

“No.”

“Why did she look afraid when you held the bottle?”

“She was afraid in general.”

“Of you?”

“She was paranoid.”

I watched through glass again.

The word made me want to break it.

Nolan remained still.

“At 9:12, you called Rachel Vance and said, ‘It happened.’ What happened?”

Jason rubbed his face.

“I don’t remember saying that.”

“She remembers.”

“I was upset.”

“What were you referring to?”

“I told Lily about Rachel.”

That was his answer.

The affair.

He claimed the confession happened upstairs.

He called Rachel immediately after.

It happened meant Lily knows everything.

Plausible.

Infuriatingly plausible.

“Why tell Rachel to stay home?”

“Because I knew Lily might call her.”

“Rachel says Lily already knew about the affair.”

Jason’s face changed.

“She says that now.”

“Did you know they had spoken?”

“No.”

That was probably true until Margaret gave him the documents.

“Why disable the kitchen camera at 9:18?”

Jason stared.

“I didn’t.”

“Forensic records show your phone sent the command.”

“I may have disconnected it because Lily was screaming about being watched.”

“She installed the cameras.”

“She regretted it.”

No evidence supported that.

“Where were you between 9:18 and 9:31?”

“Downstairs. Then basement.”

“With Lily?”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“She was looking for a folder.”

“What folder?”

“Financial records.”

“Did you argue?”

“Yes.”

“Did you touch her?”

“No.”

“You grabbed her arm in the kitchen.”

“That was earlier.”

“Did you touch her after the camera went dark?”

“No.”

“Did you see her fall?”

“No.”

“Then how did she fall?”

Jason looked exhausted.

“She walked upstairs. I stayed in the basement for a minute. Then I heard something.”

That contradicted his original statement, which said he had been in his home office.

“Why change your story?”

“Because I lied the first time.”

At least that part was honest.

Nolan asked about Margaret’s medication.

Jason said he had no idea how it entered Lily’s bottle.

Then she asked the question I had been waiting for.

“Did you replace your wife’s pills?”

“No.”

“Did you give her anything that night?”

“No.”

“Tea? Water? Food?”

“No.”

“Did you push her?”

“No.”

“Did you kill Lily?”

Jason’s eyes filled.

“No.”

He said it without hesitation.

For the first time, I wondered if he believed he was innocent.

Then his attorney ended the interview.

As Jason left, he passed the observation room.

He could not see through the one-way glass.

I could see him.

He stopped in the hallway when his phone buzzed.

Read something.

Went pale.

Later, police obtained the message through legal process.

It came from Derek Shaw.

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Five words:

They found the second account.