What Was in Emily's Blood
Chapter 07 - What Was in Emily's Blood
The drug concentration was small.
Not enough to prove murder.
But enough to raise questions.
Emily's blood contained repeated exposure to a medication capable of worsening her existing heart condition.
It was the same medication found in Michael's possession.
Michael claimed Emily must have taken it accidentally.
The detective didn't believe him.
But belief wasn't evidence.
Then investigators found pharmacy receipts.
Michael had purchased the medication under another person's name.
Still, the case remained complicated.
Emily had died at home.
No one witnessed what happened.
Michael claimed he found her unconscious and called emergency services.
But the timeline bothered Jonathan.
According to phone records, Michael waited seventeen minutes between the time his security system recorded him entering the house and the time he called 911.
Seventeen minutes.
Jonathan couldn't stop thinking about them.
What happened during those seventeen minutes?
The answer arrived from an unexpected source.
Mrs. Alvarez.
Emily's next-door neighbor.
She contacted police after seeing the funeral story online.
On the night Emily died, Mrs. Alvarez had been taking her dog outside.
She saw Michael carrying a trash bag from the house.
He placed it in a public garbage bin down the street.
Police searched collection records.
The garbage was long gone.
But a camera on a nearby store had captured Michael walking toward the bin.
His attorney called it meaningless.
Jonathan saw something else.
Michael wasn't wearing the same clothes he wore when paramedics arrived.
He had changed.
The detective reopened the death investigation fully.
Michael was questioned again.
This time he refused to answer.
At home, Lily overheard Jonathan speaking with police.
"Did Dad kill Mom?"
Jonathan's heart broke.
He knelt before her.
"We don't know."
She began crying.
"Tell me the truth."
"That is the truth."
Lily looked at him.
"Then promise me something."
"Anything."
"If Dad did something, don't let everyone pretend he didn't just because we're children."
Jonathan took her hands.
"I promise."
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But the next morning, Michael disappeared.
And Noah disappeared with him.
