Chapter 1

The pharmacist took the pill bottle I slammed onto the counter, turning it over in his hands.

"Miss, I can't find this batch number anywhere in our system. Where'd you get it?"

I replied, "I didn't buy it. Someone in my family gave it to me."

"Well, if you're worried, I'd suggest taking it to a hospital pharmacy to get the ingredients tested."

As I stared at the bottle, the comments I saw earlier echoed in my head.

"The blood pressure meds were swapped for poison! Your fingerprints are all over the bottle!"

The batch number couldn't be traced, meaning its origin was unknown. And my fingerprints had already been on it since last night.

I wrapped the bottle in a tissue and shoved it into my bag.

Then I turned around, walked into the chain pharmacy next door, and bought a brand-new bottle of the exact same blood pressure medication.

Whether the comments were real or not, I had to keep my grandmother-in-law, Phoebe Reid, safe first.

As for this bottle of questionable medicine, I'd keep it for now.

When I got to Phoebe's house, the front door was unlocked.

Stepping inside, I found her slumped on the couch, pale and drenched in sweat.

"Grandma!"

I rushed over to support her, pulled out the new bottle of medicine, and shook out a pill. "Here, take this first."

She swallowed it with some water. Ten minutes later, the color finally started returning to her face.

"I feel much better… Oh, Elsie, I was so scared."

I held her hand, my heart hammering with delayed panic.

If I had given her the bottle my husband, Leon Hobbs, gave me…

I couldn't even bring myself to finish the thought.

Once Phoebe was settled, I texted Leon. "I'm here. I gave Grandma her meds, and she's doing much better."

Leon replied instantly, "Good. Be careful on your way back."

His tone was completely normal, even caring.

If it weren't for the warning in the comments, I would never have suspected him.

Leaving Phoebe's, I hailed a cab straight to the downtown general hospital.

I headed to the pharmacy department and handed over the bottle. "Doctor, can you test the ingredients in this for me?"

The pharmacist opened the cap, took a sniff, and frowned. "Hold on. I need to send this to the lab."

"How long will it take?" I asked.

"Two hours if they're fast."

I sat on a bench in the hallway and waited.

Those two hours felt like two years.

During that time, Leon texted again. "What do you want for dinner? I can pick something up after work."

I replied with a brief "Whatever".

Two and a half hours later, the pharmacist called my name. He looked dead serious. "Miss, the pills look like blood pressure medication, but the chemical composition is wrong. A large dose would cause cardiac arrest."

I asked, "What if an elderly person with high blood pressure took it?"

"Within 10 to 20 minutes, it would cause an irregular heartbeat, followed by cardiac arrest. The outward signs look almost exactly like a heart attack brought on by high blood pressure. Without a specific toxicology test, it's impossible to detect it."

I sat frozen on the bench, completely numb.

The comments were right.

This bottle was poison.

My husband was trying to use his own grandmother's life to frame me for murder.