Mother shook her head.
“I don’t take sleeping pills.”
Chloe’s breathing became frantic.
“She gets agitated.”
“You drugged her?” I asked.
“I managed her symptoms.”
“You are not a doctor.”
“She was impossible!”
The mask finally cracked.
Every polished smile, every complaint about sacrifice, every carefully constructed story collapsed in a single burst of anger.
“She screamed about money every day,” Chloe shouted. “She followed us through the house. She accused us of stealing before we had even taken anything!”
Julian closed his eyes.
“Stop talking.”
Chloe turned on him.
“You said she would sign the house over in a week! You said Elena never visited and nobody would question it!”
Mother made a sound like something breaking.
Julian looked at her.
For one brief second, shame crossed his face.
Then it vanished.
“You don’t understand,” he said to me. “We were drowning.”
“So you tied her to a bed?”
“I never hurt her.”
Mother stepped forward.
“You held the rope.”
Julian’s expression changed.
The entire room seemed to narrow around him.
“I was trying to keep you from falling.”
“You tied my ankles.”
“You were confused.”
“You put a pillow over my face.”
Even Chloe looked at him.
“What?”
Julian’s head snapped toward Mother.
“That never happened.”
Mother’s voice grew stronger.
“You said if I died in my sleep, everyone would call it natural.”
Sheriff Mercer signaled to the deputies.
They moved toward Julian.
He backed away.
“This is a misunderstanding.”
“You have the right to remain silent,” Mercer began.
Julian shoved one deputy and lunged toward the hallway.
