Chapter 4 - THE HOLLOW BOOK
Detective Chen entered our house with a warrant three hours later.
I stayed with Lily at a neighbor’s.
Emily remained hospitalized.
The letter was hidden inside a hollowed-out copy of The Secret Garden on Lily’s bookshelf.
Marlene had given Lily the book two Christmases earlier.
Irony sometimes has a cruel sense of humor.
The book was gone.
Not moved.
Gone.
Detective Chen called me.
“We found dust marks where a book was removed.”
My stomach tightened.
“Anything else?”
“Your wife’s desk drawers were searched.”
“How do you know?”
“Several were put back incorrectly.”
Marlene had not only drugged Emily.
She had searched our house while Emily was in the hospital.
Then Lily saw her.
That was what Marlene needed silenced.
I looked at my daughter.
“What exactly did you see Grandma doing this morning?”
Lily twisted the hem of her shirt.
“She was in my room.”
“Before I came inside?”
“Yes.”
“What was she doing?”
“She took my green book.”
“The Secret Garden?”
Lily nodded.
“She opened the back.”
“Did she take something out?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“A paper envelope.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
“What did Grandma say when she saw you?”
“She asked how long I had been there.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I just came in.”
“And then?”
Lily swallowed.
“She told me to forget it.”
My jaw tightened.
“Then she grabbed you?”
“Not right away.”
“What happened first?”
“Mom called the house.”
I froze.
“Your mother called?”
Lily nodded.
“Grandma answered.”
“Did you hear what Mom said?”
“No.”
“But Grandma got mad.”
“How mad?”
“She said, ‘You should have stayed asleep.’”
My skin went cold.
Then Marlene turned and realized Lily was still in the room.
That was when she panicked.
That was when she pinned her to the floor.
Not because Lily saw a random paper.
Because Lily heard Marlene tell Emily she should have stayed asleep.
Detective Chen interviewed Lily formally that evening with a child specialist present.
I watched from another room.
My nine-year-old daughter repeated the same story.
No exaggeration.
No contradictions.
Just details.
The purse.
The hollow book.
The phone call.
Marlene’s threat.
By midnight, Marlene was no longer simply a grandmother questioned about restraint.
She was a person of interest in a poisoning investigation.
But she had already hired a lawyer.
And the missing letter had not been found.
The next morning, Marlene’s attorney released a statement.
Mrs. Whitaker denies all allegations and is deeply concerned about her daughter’s mental health and her granddaughter’s tendency toward imaginative storytelling.
I read it twice.
Then I felt something colder than anger.
A strategy.
Marlene was already doing to Lily what she had done to Emily.
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Make the witness look unstable.
The problem for Marlene was that this time, the witness had a father who was listening.
