Chapter 13 - The Sleep He Couldn’t ExplainThe hospital had retained Daniel’s laboratory sample.
Detective Cole obtained the necessary legal process to review the toxicology results.
A week later, she called.
“Daniel, you need to come in.”
He knew before she told him.
A sedating medication had been present in his system.
Not something prescribed to him.
Not something he remembered taking.
The amount was not necessarily dangerous.
But it could explain why he had slept so deeply.
Daniel sat silently.
Cole watched him.
“Did you voluntarily take any sleep medication?”
“No.”
“Anything for allergies?”
“No.”
“Anything given to you by Evelyn?”
“Tea.”
“When?”
“The night before.”
“That would be a long interval depending on the substance.”
“She also brought coffee Sunday morning.”
Cole wrote it down.
“Did anyone else have access?”
“Anyone in the house.”
“Can you prove Evelyn gave you anything?”
“No.”
“Then don’t tell people she drugged you.”
Daniel looked at her sharply.
“You think she did.”
“I think we follow evidence.”
He hated the answer because it was correct.
That evening, Rebecca told him the guardianship hearing had been scheduled.
Evelyn’s lawyers were emphasizing his inability to remain awake while supervising Mia.
Daniel almost laughed.
“She may have caused the thing she’s accusing me of.”
“We need proof.”
“There’s always that sentence.”
“Because it matters.”
Daniel walked to the window.
Cooper lay beside Mia while she built a tower from wooden blocks.
“What if the court believes her?”
“Temporary guardianship is an extraordinary remedy. Evelyn has her own problems now.”
“Does the judge know?”
“About the vest investigation? Yes. About the toxicology? We can raise it carefully.”
Daniel watched Mia knock over her tower.
She laughed.
He remembered that afternoon.
Cooper pulling the blanket.
His irritation.
Even if Evelyn had tampered with his drink, one truth remained.
The dog had awakened him.
Daniel had looked at him.
Then chosen sleep.
He could not blame that choice on chemistry.
“I still sent Cooper away,” he said.
Rebecca understood.
“Daniel—”
“I was awake.”
“Barely.”
“I was awake enough to get angry.”
“That doesn’t make Evelyn innocent.”
“I know.”
“It also doesn’t make you responsible for what she did.”
Daniel turned.
“But it makes me responsible for what I did.”
Rebecca said nothing.
That was why Daniel trusted her.
She did not try to erase his guilt with comforting lies.
The next day, Detective Cole called again.
Police had obtained surveillance footage from the storage facility where the pool camera had briefly traveled.
A vehicle entered at 3:07 p.m. on the day of the incident.
The license plate was unreadable.
But the driver was visible.
Not Evelyn.
Leonard Shaw.
Daniel stared at the still image.
“So Leonard removed the camera?”
“Looks that way.”
“Then Evelyn called him.”
“We’re checking phone records.”
“If they communicated—”
“We’ll know.”
Daniel leaned forward.
Cole placed another photograph on the table.
A trash container behind Leonard’s office.
Inside police found pieces of a yellow flotation vest package.
Two identical model numbers.
Daniel frowned.
“Two?”
“Yes.”
“The vest Mia wore…”
“Was one.”
“Where’s the other?”
Cole looked at him.
“That’s what we want to know.”
Daniel suddenly remembered Alyssa’s letter.
Mom believes love means ownership.
May you like
And he realized Evelyn might not have planned merely to damage one vest.
She may have planned the entire scene.
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