Chapter 17 - The Poisoner’s Trail
The interrogation room inside the hospital’s security precinct grew colder with every word Chloe spilled.
"The water," I murmured, recalling the silver tray Martha had carried toward me the moment I stepped into the baby shower. *Drink this, dear, you look pale from the drive.* I had taken three sips before setting it on the marble buffet.
"It was a concentrated dose of Mifepristone mixed with a synthetic anticoagulant," Chloe wept, her manicured nails digging into her palms until droplets of blood beaded on her skin. "Mother got it from Dr. Vogel. It was designed to trigger heavy placental abruption within twelve hours of ingestion. But you didn't finish the glass, Elizabeth! You left it on the console!"
"So when the poison didn't work fast enough," Daniel said, stepping closer to the bed, "Martha improvised."
"She panicked!" Chloe cried out, her voice rising to a shrill pitch. "When you said you were leaving, when you threatened to cut ties and take your baby away to Chicago, Mother knew you’d go to an independent obstetrician. If an outside doctor found traces of the anticoagulant in your blood, the police would trace it back to Vogel's private pharmacy. She followed you onto the terrace... I saw her through the French doors. She didn't hesitate. She grabbed your shoulders and shoved you straight over the balustrade."
I closed my eyes. The phantom sensation of falling rushed over me—the wind howling in my ears, the sickening crunch of concrete against my spine, the cold pool of blood spreading beneath my hips as the light faded from the sky.
She hadn't just pushed me in a fit of rage. It was a calculated, brutal execution meant to finish what the poisoned water had failed to do.
"And where is Dr. Vogel now, Chloe?" Detective Miller asked, holding up a pen. "Where is the man who signed the cryogenic harvest orders?"
Chloe swallowed hard, her throat bobbing. "He isn't in Zurich. He never was. He’s at the family mausoleum at Oakridge Cemetery. Mother told him to meet Julian Croft there tonight to destroy the secondary embryo tanks stored in Arthur Senior’s crypt."
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Daniel and Miller exchanged a sharp, horrified look.
"The crypt isn't just a tomb," Daniel realized aloud. "It's a decommissioned medical bunker."
