Chapter 4 - The Bait and the Hook
By 9:00 AM, the toxicology report arrived. Dr. Chen’s analysis was definitive: the prenatal vitamins had been laced with a concentrated dose of digitalis—a cardiac medication that, in high doses, mimics a natural heart attack or sudden placental abruption in pregnant women.
"It’s premeditated murder, William," Sergio Alarcón, William’s legal advisor who had just arrived at the compound, stated flatly. "But if we arrest Marcus now on a poisoning charge, a high-priced defense team will claim the vitamins were tampered with by an external source. We need the hitman. We need the physical link between the money and the execution."
William looked at Victoria. "Tori, it’s your choice. We can go to the FBI right now and spend two years in a federal court battle while Marcus stays out on bail. Or, we can give them exactly what they want. We can let them think the plan is working."
Victoria looked down at her hands, then at the silver-framed photograph of her late mother on her father’s desk. Her mother had died of a sudden illness when Victoria was young—an illness she now realized her father had spent decades investigating.
"What do I need to do, Dad?" she asked, her voice hardening.
"You need to send a message back," William said. "Tell them you are terrified. Tell them you are checking yourself into the St. Jude Women’s Pavilion downtown tonight for observation because your blood pressure is spiking. Give them a location. Give them a room number."
May you like
"The hospital?" Victoria gasped.
"St. Jude is owned by a medical conglomerate I advise," William explained, a grim smile touching his lips. "Every nurse, every doctor, and every security guard on the fourth floor tonight will be state police or my personal security detail. We are going to let the killer come to you, Tori. And we are going to catch him with his hand on the syringe."
