Chapter 8 - MARGARET'S VERSION OF LOVE
Margaret finally agreed to speak.
Not because she wanted to help investigators.
Because Rosa's testimony cornered her.
Margaret sat across from detectives in a formal interview room.
Her lawyer beside her.
Claire watched remotely.
“Did you know William's medication had been altered?”
Margaret's jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“That night.”
“How?”
“I found Daniel's father looking at the bottle.”
“You mean your husband.”
Margaret ignored the correction.
“He said the pills looked wrong.”
“What did you do?”
“I compared them to an older bottle.”
“And?”
“They were different.”
“Did you call a doctor?”
“No.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Margaret's expression changed.
Because she knew.
Not who did it.
But what exposure could mean.
She had already been stealing company money.
William was threatening to report her.
Any investigation into the medication might uncover everything.
“So you switched them back?” the detective asked.
“I tried.”
“Why?”
“To protect him.”
Claire almost laughed.
Margaret used the same word everyone in that family used.
Protect.
“What happened?”
“Rosa came in.”
“And?”
“She thought I was tampering with them.”
“Why didn't Rosa report you?”
Margaret looked away.
“I threatened to report her immigration status.”
Claire's stomach turned.
Rosa had been a lawful permanent resident.
Margaret lied to frighten her.
The detective continued.
“Did you kill William?”
“No.”
“Do you know who altered the pills?”
Margaret hesitated.
Her lawyer whispered.
Margaret ignored him.
“I suspected Daniel.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Daniel beside her looked stunned.
“Why?”
“He had argued with William.”
“That is all?”
“No.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I saw him carrying one of William's bottles earlier that week.”
Daniel stood.
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“Sit.”
“I never—”
“Sit.”
He did.
Investigators confronted him.
Daniel denied carrying the medication.
Then remembered something.
He had picked up William's pharmacy bag after Margaret asked him to collect it from the pharmacy.
“I brought it home.”
There it was.
Margaret had omitted that.
The pills were in Daniel's possession briefly.
But that still did not prove he changed them.
Pharmacy security footage had been overwritten years ago.
Then Victor provided another clue.
Margaret asked him whether he knew someone who could “fix a prescription problem.”
He had given her the name of a private nurse.
A woman named Sandra Cole.
Investigators traced Sandra.
She had died two years earlier.
But bank records showed Margaret paid her $15,000 shortly before William died.
Margaret denied ordering any medication change.
“I paid her for advice.”
“What advice?”
“How to adjust William's medications.”
“Without his doctor?”
“Yes.”
Claire stared.
Even if Margaret had not intended murder, she had inserted herself into William's medical care for financial reasons.
Investigators found Sandra's old cloud backups.
One text exchange survived.
MARGARET:
How much would make him confused enough to sign?
SANDRA:
This is dangerous.
MARGARET:
I asked a question.
Claire felt sick.
Margaret had been trying to chemically impair William.
Not necessarily kill him.
But make him easier to control.
Another message:
MARGARET:
Need will discussion delayed.
Then Sandra:
I will not do this.
Margaret:
You already took my money.
The final message came from Sandra:
I changed nothing. Do not contact me again.
Margaret looked genuinely shocked when shown the texts.
“She lied.”
“About what?”
“She did change them.”
“How do you know?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Because she told me afterward.”
But investigators found no proof.
Then a forensic accountant noticed Sandra returned $10,000 to an unfamiliar account.
Account owner:
Emily Bennett.
Claire stared.
Emily.
The niece who recorded brunch.
The anonymous source.
The young woman everyone now considered brave.
May you like
Emily had received money from the nurse connected to William's altered medication.
And she had never mentioned it.
