Chapter 4 β The Poison Beneath the Polish
Victoria stared at the evidence bag as though willing it to disappear.
"That isn't mine."
Detective Ryan Cole didn't respond immediately. He had learned long ago that guilty people hated silence more than accusations.
"Forensics will tell us whose fingerprints are on it."
Victoria's attorney, who had arrived moments earlier, stepped forward.
"My client has nothing further to say."
Ryan nodded.
"That's her right."
Daniel, however, wasn't looking at the detective. His eyes were fixed on the woman he had been married to for six years.
"Tell me the truth."
Victoria met his gaze without flinching.
"I have no idea where that came from."
Emily watched quietly from a nearby chair while a paramedic stitched the cut above her eyebrow.
She wasn't interested in revenge.
She was trying to remember one detail that still bothered her.
The olive.
Victoria hadn't simply replaced itβshe had hesitated first, as if waiting for someone.
Ryan interrupted her thoughts.
"Miss Carter, did anyone approach Mrs. Mercer before she switched the olive?"
Emily frowned.
"There was a man."
"What man?"
"He wore a black tuxedo like the catering staff, but... he wasn't one of us."
The hotel manager immediately pulled out the employee roster.
Every server had been checked in before the gala.
No extra waiter was assigned to the VIP floor.
Ryan's expression sharpened.
"So whoever handed her that capsule wasn't supposed to be here."
At that exact moment, another detective hurried into the ballroom carrying a tablet.
"Ryan."
He turned the screen around.
"One security camera caught him."
The image was blurry, but clear enough.
A man in a waiter's uniform handed Victoria something small before disappearing through a service corridor.
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When detectives searched the hallway...
He was already gone.
