Page 101 of Backwater Justice

Annie moved the chair to uncover her handiwork. “Sorry.”

“Both the glass and carpet contain traces of foxglove.”

“Foxglove? But where did it come from?” Milton asked.

“Your garden, Mill. In front of the privet I was admiring.”

“That was only planted a little over a week ago.” Milton shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Annie took the reins. “The foxglove was mixed with your brandy. It could have been lethal, but the doctors gave you a lot of fluids that helped flush the toxins out. It was a seizure brought on by poisoning. Not a heart attack, as they had assumed in the beginning.”

“So that’s why you asked about who gave me the glass?” Milton hung his head.

“Both Patricia’s and Oliver’s fingerprints were on the glass, in addition to yours, of course,” Chris added.

“But why?” Milton was devastated.

“We don’t know for sure.” Myra looked at Annie and Chris. The next shock was about to be delivered. Myra squatted down in front of Milton and took his hands. “Mill, this next bit of information is going to hurt.”

“What could hurt more than finding out your wife or your son tried to kill you?”

“That’s the other part of it. Mill, there’s no easy way to say this, but Oliver is not your son.”

The room was completely silent. Milton began to nod. “This may sound cruel, but I am not surprised. I could never understand how he could be so different from Benjamin. I always blamed it on Patricia’s coddling. Now I know why.”

Myra watched him carefully. He appeared to be taking the news better than she’d expected. “Did you know she was having an affair?”

“I suspected it. She was taking too many trips back and forth to D.C. Am I wrong to guess it was Garret Lambeau?” he said miserably.

“What makes you say that?” Chris asked.

“She mentioned his name more frequently than any other of her Beltway cronies. And she was always in a delightful mood just before and after her trips.” Milton shook his head. “I should have confronted her, but we had things nicely arranged.”

Myra stood and put her hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“Actually, yes. I always felt guilty that I didn’t have the same relationship with Oliver as with Benjamin, and I resented it. As far as Patricia, well, we haven’t been blissfully happy in years. If ever. We were well-suited but probably never in love, really.”

Annie glanced at Myra with anow what?shrug.

“Mill, we want you to call Oliver and have him come over tonight. Benjamin, too. I know it’s late, but the DEA agents will be on the Blaine, Eugene, and Salem premises within the hour. You’re calling a family meeting.”

“What am I supposed to say?”

“We’ll do most of the talking,” Chris assured him.

“We wanted to let you know what was going on and not blindside you later,” Myra said.

“Alright. Let’s do it.” He phoned Oliver first. Then Benjamin. Both asked lots of questions, but Milton told them they’d find out when they got there.

Milton finished his brandy and held the glass up to Myra. “Just a smidge, please?”

* * *

Izzie and Kathryn got the message that Pearl’s people were near the property. Before anything went down, they had to remove their belongings from the apartment. Fergus hacked into the security system and disabled the motion-detector cameras and the alarms. Once Kathryn and Izzie retrieved their things, they were able to access the interior offices using a key card Kat had swiped from Bart when they were chatting about trucks earlier that day.

Charles and Fergus cloned Oliver’s phone number and sent text messages to the deputy, Bart, and Dickie:

Meet me in my office. Pronto. No questions.

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