Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN BEFORE THE WEDDING
The photograph changed everything.
Emily enlarged it until the pixels blurred.
Vanessa looked younger.
Preston looked happier.
They were holding hands.
Raymond studied the image.
“They knew each other before you?”
“Apparently.”
Emily’s throat tightened.
She remembered Preston describing Vanessa as a consultant he had met the previous year.
Another lie.
A police detective named Lena Ortiz arrived that afternoon.
She listened without interrupting.
Then she placed a recorder on the table.
“Mrs. Whitmore, we need to talk about the assault.”
Emily described the kick.
The hallway.
The witnesses.
Preston’s reaction.
Detective Ortiz nodded.
“We have the security footage.”
Emily looked at her.
“It recorded everything?”
“Everything.”
“Including Preston watching?”
“Yes.”
The detective paused.
“And something else.”
She opened her tablet.
The video showed Vanessa arguing with Emily.
Then Vanessa glanced toward Preston.
Preston made a tiny downward motion with two fingers.
Almost invisible.
Vanessa stepped forward immediately afterward.
Then came the kick.
Emily’s chest went cold.
“He signaled her.”
“It may be interpreted that way.”
Ortiz remained careful.
“But we’re investigating.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Preston had not merely failed to stop Vanessa.
He may have encouraged her.
Raymond paced once across the room.
Detective Ortiz turned toward him.
“There’s another issue.”
She produced a printed email.
“It appears hospital administrators were instructed yesterday morning to deny Mrs. Whitmore access to certain prenatal records.”
Emily frowned.
“My records?”
“Your husband sent the instruction.”
Raymond’s face sharpened.
“He has no authority to do that.”
“He used his executive title.”
Emily remembered Preston repeatedly telling her to move her care to a private clinic controlled by his family.
She had refused because her mother’s hospital felt safe.
Now she understood why he had wanted her elsewhere.
“What was he trying to hide?”
Ortiz did not answer immediately.
Instead, she opened another document.
“Your physician ordered a toxicology panel after your admission.”
Emily stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because of an abnormal blood result.”
Raymond stepped closer.
“What did they find?”
The detective exchanged a look with the doctor.
Emily felt suddenly afraid.
The doctor entered.
He sat beside her.
“Emily, have you been taking any medication not prescribed by us?”
“No.”
“Supplements?”
“Only prenatal vitamins.”
He placed the report on the table.
“There are traces of a sedative in your bloodstream.”
Emily’s mouth went dry.
“I don’t take sedatives.”
The doctor nodded slowly.
May you like
“We know.”
Emily thought of the tea Preston brought her every night.
