Chapter 1 - The Framed Mother
I stared at the small plastic bottle of industrial drain cleaner sitting innocently on the side table.
The bright red warning label mocked me as my heart hammered violently against my ribs.
Two uniformed police officers stepped deeper into my living room, their boots tracking melted snow across the hardwood floor.
Daniel looked at me with wild, panicked eyes, his hands trembling uncontrollably at his sides.
"How is Emma?" I asked, my voice shaking so hard I could barely form the syllables.
"She is stable for now, but she has severe chemical burns covering her cheeks," Daniel whispered, tears streaming down his face.
The older police officer pulled out a pair of blue latex gloves and carefully picked up the plastic bottle.
"Mrs. Pierce, did you place this bottle here next to the coffee mug?" the officer asked, his tone sharp and heavily accusatory.
"No, of course not," I answered quickly, feeling a sudden, terrifying chill sweep through the room.
"Richard must have left it there when he sneaked out the back door while we were panicking."
The second officer was already dusting the small plastic bottle for fingerprints right there on our coffee table.
It felt exactly like I was trapped in a suffocating nightmare that I simply couldn't wake up from.
"We are going to need you to come down to the station for a formal interview," the older officer said.
"My daughter is lying in a hospital bed in unimaginable pain, so I am going to her right now," I argued, stepping fiercely toward the front door.
The officer shifted his weight and blocked my path with his heavy, intimidating frame.
"I am afraid you cannot do that today, ma'am," he said coldly.
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The fingerprint technician looked up from his dusting kit with a grim, unsettling expression.
"The only fingerprints we pulled off this drain cleaner belong exclusively to you, Mrs. Pierce," the technician announced.
