The Tea in the Silver Cup
Chapter 02 - The Tea in the Silver Cup
The ambulance arrived seven minutes later.
Daniel tried to send it away.
He told the paramedics that Claire had a history of panic attacks and had collapsed after becoming violent. He pointed to the broken hallway as though Claire had destroyed it.
Marta stepped forward.
“Mr. Vale broke the walls.”
Daniel turned toward her.
The look he gave the housekeeper was quiet enough to be missed by everyone except Sophie.
Sophie did not miss it.
One paramedic knelt beside Claire and checked her pupils.
“Has she taken any medication today?”
Daniel answered immediately.
“Only what her doctor prescribed.”
Sophie spoke from the floor.
“He put something in her tea.”
The corridor became still.
Daniel laughed softly.
“She is frightened and confused.”
“I saw you.”
“Sophie.”
“You made Mommy drink from the silver cup.”
The paramedic looked at Marta.
Marta nodded.
“I saw the cup afterward. There was powder at the bottom.”
Daniel’s face changed.
He moved toward the morning room.
A police officer blocked him.
“Sir, stay here.”
Claire was lifted onto a stretcher. As the paramedics carried her away, her fingers moved weakly.
Sophie ran beside them.
Claire’s eyes opened for half a second.
“The bird,” she whispered.
Then they closed again.
At St. Anne’s Medical Center, blood tests found two sedatives in Claire’s system. One had been prescribed months earlier after a car accident. The other did not appear anywhere in her chart.
Dr. Samuel Keene, the Vale family physician, arrived before the test was complete.
He carried a leather folder and the confidence of a man accustomed to entering private rooms without being questioned.
“Claire has suffered severe anxiety since her accident,” he said. “She sometimes combines medications improperly.”
Marta folded her arms.
“She did not prepare the tea.”
Daniel stood near the window.
“My wife has been unstable for months.”
Sophie sat beside the hospital bed, holding Claire’s cold hand.
She looked at her father.
He did not look back.
A detective named Lena Brooks entered and asked everyone except Sophie and Marta to leave.
Daniel refused.
Lena showed him the toxicology report.
“The second drug was crushed into liquid. We are securing the house.”
Daniel called his attorney.
Dr. Keene began arguing about medical privacy.
Lena let them talk.
Then she placed a photograph on the table.
It showed the silver cup from the morning room.
At the bottom was a white residue.
Beside it lay an unsigned document.
EMERGENCY SPOUSAL GUARDIANSHIP PETITION.
Claire’s name appeared on the first page.
May you like
Daniel’s signature appeared on the last.
The petition had been prepared nine days before Claire collapsed.
