Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN UNDER THE WHITE BLANKET.
Victoria Ashford stood inches from Emily’s face, one hand raised like a warning.
“You will not tell Richard anything.”
Emily’s cheek still carried the faint red mark from where Victoria’s ring had scraped her earlier.
“She needs help.”
“She needs silence,” Victoria snapped. “And you need to remember that girls hired to pour tea do not diagnose women born into families like mine.”
The double doors opened.
Richard Ashford entered with his briefcase and stopped when he saw Emily crying.
“What happened here?”
Emily ran to the bed and pulled back the blanket.
Evelyn Ashford lay on her side, breathing weakly but unable to wake.
“Your mother couldn’t wake up.”
Richard turned toward Victoria.
“How long has she been like this?”
Victoria stepped forward.
He raised one open hand.
“Step away from them.”
She backed into the gray bench and sat down hard.
“You don’t understand.”
Richard looked at the locked bedroom door, then at the untouched telephone.
“Then explain why the door was locked.”
Emily reached beneath Evelyn’s pillow and found a crushed medication packet.
Victoria’s face drained of color.
Richard read the label.
May you like
It was not prescribed to Evelyn.
It was prescribed to Emily.
