Chapter 14 - MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
The meeting took place in a secure interview room.
I watched through glass.
Emily sat across from Marlene.
No hugs.
No tears at first.
Marlene looked older.
Not broken.
Just smaller without control.
“You look tired.”
Marlene said.
Emily almost smiled.
“You drugged me.”
Marlene flinched.
“I was trying to calm you.”
“You changed my seizure medication.”
“I reduced it.”
“Without telling me.”
“You were becoming obsessive.”
“About the company you stole.”
Marlene’s face hardened.
“Your father poisoned you against me.”
Emily stared.
“Dad is dead.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped that happen.”
Marlene looked away.
That was the first crack.
Emily leaned forward.
“Why Lily?”
“She saw things she didn’t understand.”
“She saw you stealing Dad’s letter.”
“She should have stayed out of adult matters.”
“She is nine.”
“She lies.”
Emily’s expression changed.
“No.”
Marlene continued.
“She has always been dramatic.”
Emily stood.
The guard shifted.
Emily did not move closer.
“You said that about me.”
Marlene stopped.
“When I was nineteen.”
Silence.
“You said I was dramatic.”
Emily’s voice broke.
“You said I imagined the bank statements.”
“You said Dad didn’t believe me.”
“You sent me away.”
Marlene’s eyes filled.
“For your own good.”
“No.”
Emily shook her head.
“For yours.”
Marlene started crying.
Finally.
“I gave up everything for this family.”
Emily laughed softly.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The bill.”
Marlene looked confused.
“You always hand everyone the bill for loving them.”
Emily sat again.
“You tell us what you sacrificed.”
“Then you decide what we owe.”
“I carried this family after your father stopped caring.”
“Dad was divorcing you.”
Marlene’s face changed.
Emily knew she hit the truth.
“You knew.”
Marlene looked down.
“He was going to humiliate me.”
“So you stopped him.”
“I didn’t mean for him to die.”
The room froze.
Through the glass, I stopped breathing.
Emily did not move.
“What did you mean to happen?”
Marlene closed her eyes.
“I wanted him sedated.”
“Why?”
“So he would miss the lawyer meeting.”
“And the warfarin?”
“Richard said increasing it slightly would make him weak.”
Emily’s face crumpled.
“You gave him both.”
“I didn’t know how much he had already taken.”
There it was.
Not a complete confession to murder.
But admission to deliberate medication tampering.
Marlene started crying harder.
“He collapsed.”
“And you waited seven minutes to call 911.”
“I panicked.”
“You called Charles first.”
Marlene looked up.
Emily knew.
Everyone knew.
The story was over.
Then Emily asked one final question.
“Last week, when you changed my medication, what did you intend?”
Marlene went silent.
Emily waited.
Finally, Marlene whispered.
“I needed time.”
“For what?”
“To find the trust.”
“And if Lily hadn’t seen you?”
Marlene looked toward the floor.
May you like
She never answered.
That silence followed us home.
