When an outsider producer is framed for drowning a $50,000 pedigree cat, her celebrity daughter-in-law demands her total ruin, unaware a private confrontation will expose a $20 million poisoning co...
The lab assistant, whose name was Aris, looked like a deer caught in headlights. Dr. Thorne’s door had just closed behind him, leaving us alone in the hushed lobby.
“Mr. Aris,” I said, my voice low and urgent. “What exactly did you mean by ‘original order’?”
He fidgeted, his gaze darting nervously to the reception desk, then back to me. “I… I shouldn’t have said anything, Ms. Lin. It was just an observation. Dr. Thorne has the official report.”
“An observation that Chloe Kensington ordered a custom-formulated sedative matching what you found in Barnaby’s system, three weeks ago?” I pressed, stepping closer. “That’s not just an observation, Aris. That’s a critical detail.”
He wrung his hands. “Look, I could get fired. These celebrity clients, they… they have pull.”
“And what if what you just told me is about more than just a cat?” I countered, my eyes locked on his. “What if it’s about someone being poisoned, slowly, deliberately?”
His eyes widened again. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He was young, clearly passionate about his work, and suddenly faced with a moral dilemma.
“The digital invoice log,” I urged. “Do you have access to the original digital invoice log of that custom order? The one placed by Chloe Kensington?”
He hesitated, chewing on his lip. “It’s… it’s all encrypted. Highly confidential.”
“This sedative,” I continued, “has it been found in a human system before, in similar circumstances?”
He flinched. The question hung heavy between us. He understood.
“I can’t… I can’t release anything,” he whispered. “But the log… it would prove everything. Dates, times, delivery address.”
“Exactly,” I said, a tremor running through me. “And I need it. Now. Before Dr. Thorne finishes his report, before anyone else finds out you made that slip.”
He looked at me, then at the closed door of Dr. Thorne’s office, then back at the cart of specimen trays. He was clearly torn. His scientific integrity against his job security.
“Look, the system runs a daily backup at noon,” he finally said, his voice barely audible. “If I… accidentally… left a terminal unlocked after I pulled the archived data for Dr. Thorne’s cross-reference… and someone, hypothetically, accessed it before the system locked again for the backup…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but the implication was clear. He wouldn’t give it to me, but he wouldn’t stop me from finding it.
“Thank you, Aris,” I said, a surge of adrenaline sharpening my focus. “Just point me to the terminal.”
He quickly, almost imperceptibly, pointed to a small, unlabeled door across the lobby. “It’s the last one on the left in the back storage room. We use it for overflow analysis.”
Dr. Thorne’s door opened then, his head poking out. “Ms. Lin? My apologies for the wait.”
I nodded, offering a small, tight smile. “No problem at all, Doctor.”
Aris, pale but determined, quickly wheeled his cart towards the back. He glanced at me one last time, a silent communication passing between us.
I walked into Dr. Thorne’s office, my heart pounding. While he droned on about trace elements and chemical compounds, my mind was racing. I already knew the official report would confirm the sedative. What I needed was the proof of Chloe’s involvement. The digital fingerprint.
When Dr. Thorne stepped out for a moment to retrieve a physical sample, I slipped out too, feigning a need for the restroom. Instead, I found the door Aris had indicated. It was unlocked.
Inside, a single terminal hummed. On the screen, a command prompt blinked.
It took me a few tense minutes, following Aris’s implied instructions, but I found it. The invoice. The date. The quantity. The custom formulation. The name: Chloe Kensington. And the billing address: the Kensington penthouse.
A cold certainty settled in my chest. This wasn’t just about money, or fame, or even a cat. This was about power. And Chloe had been systematically trying to strip me of mine, starting with my very clarity of mind.
I copied the digital log to a secure drive I’d brought, my hands steady despite the fury simmering beneath my skin.
Now, I had everything I needed.
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