Chapter 6 - Catherine started acting weaker than she was
Catherine did not accuse Serena immediately after leaving the hospital for a simple reason: she had suspicions, not proof, and she knew Serena would move faster than Michael if directly threatened.
So she did something Serena never expected from her.
She pretended to retreat.
She stayed in the guest suite, let the visiting nurse think she was more fatigued than she really was, and allowed Serena to believe the combination of fear, medication, and family pressure had made her hesitant. In truth, Catherine was watching the house.
Watching who entered her room.
Watching who seemed nervous.
Watching how quickly Serena relaxed whenever the subject turned away from the unexplained sedative.
On the third day back, Catherine asked the estate houseman, Paul, a seemingly innocent question.
“Who brought the wine tray to my suite that night?”
Paul looked confused. “I didn’t know there was a wine tray, ma’am.”
She asked the kitchen supervisor.
No record.
She asked the night maid.
No record.
The estate ran with too much staffing precision for trays to appear magically. Every service request was logged, if only casually.
Catherine then checked something else: her own pill case.
One compartment contained the correct sleep medication. But the number of tablets was wrong by one day, as if someone had opened the case and replaced what should have been there or tampered around it. She could not prove substitution from that alone, but the inconsistency deepened her suspicion.
Then came the most useful mistake Serena made.
Catherine woke just before dawn one morning and heard soft footsteps in her suite. She kept her breathing even. Through slitted eyes she saw Serena near the dresser where Catherine kept her medications and hospital paperwork.
Serena did not notice that Catherine was conscious.
She opened a drawer, shuffled papers, and left.
Catherine waited a full minute before moving.
The discharge paperwork listing the unexplained sedative was gone.
So was the business expense printout Catherine had brought with her from Manhattan.
That was the moment suspicion became conviction.
An innocent daughter-in-law does not sneak into a recovering woman’s room before sunrise to remove documents linking her to both unexplained sedation and financial irregularities.
Catherine began planning differently after that.
She would need records.
She would need witnesses.
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And eventually, she would need Serena to say too much.
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