Chapter 4 - The Poisoned Chalice
I paid the taxi driver triple his fare to run every red light on the way back to the Cole estate.
The sprawling mansion looked like a fortress in the dark.
I bypassed the locked front gates and slipped through the garden hedge.
I crept toward the heavy oak doors of Arthur’s private study at the back of the house.
Through the tall glass windows, I saw Arthur writhing on the Persian rug, clutching his chest.
Margaret stood by the fireplace, calmly sipping a glass of wine.
Ethan was pacing the floor, looking nervously at his watch.
They were literally watching the old man die.
I didn't have time to hesitate.
I picked up a heavy garden stone and hurled it through the glass door.
The glass shattered into a thousand jagged pieces, echoing like a gunshot.
Margaret screamed, dropping her wine glass as I climbed through the broken window.
"What are you doing here?" Ethan yelled, lunging toward me.
I sidestepped him and swung my heavy leather purse hard against his jaw.
He stumbled backward, crashing into the heavy mahogany desk.
I dropped to my knees beside Arthur, pulling an emergency epinephrine pen from my coat.
I had carried it for years due to my own severe allergies, but I knew it could temporarily restart a failing heart.
I jammed the needle straight into Arthur’s thigh.
The old man gasped loudly, his eyes snapping open as oxygen rushed back into his lungs.
"You stupid girl!" Margaret shrieked, grabbing a heavy iron poker from the fireplace.
She swung the iron bar down toward my head with lethal force.
I rolled out of the way just in time, hearing the metal smash into the hardwood floor.
Sirens suddenly wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second.
Margaret dropped the poker, her face twisting into a mask of pure panic.
"The police are coming back," Ethan stammered, blood dripping from his lip.
Margaret sneered at me and reached into her pocket.
May you like
Before I could react, she tossed a tiny, empty glass vial directly into my open purse.
"Let them come," Margaret whispered maliciously. "They just caught the woman who poisoned my brother-in-law."
