Chapter 6 - The Missing Twelve Minutes
Serena’s timeline became crucial.
9:25 — she entered my house.
9:27 — her phone called David.
9:29 — David called back.
9:38 — my neighbor called 911.
Nine minutes.
What happened during them?
Serena claimed she panicked.
She found Madeline slumped beside the kitchen island.
Barely responsive.
A cup of tea nearby.
The neighbor entered after hearing Poppy crying through the open patio door.
That was when emergency services were finally called.
“Why didn’t you call?”
Serena looked ashamed.
“David told me not to.”
The detective leaned forward.
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said Madeline probably took something accidentally. He said if I called an ambulance before we knew what happened, everyone would blame me because I had been meeting her secretly.”
“And you believed him?”
“Yes.”
That decision nearly cost Madeline her life.
Serena knew it.
Then David made another request.
“Check her desk for Caroline’s flash drive.”
Serena did.
She found nothing.
David told her to leave before paramedics arrived.
She obeyed.
Then went to meet me.
“Why?”
“Madeline had told me to.”
“So you left an unconscious woman and came to lunch?”
“I thought the neighbor was calling for help.”
It was cowardly.
Possibly criminal.
But still different from poisoning her.
Then investigators searched Serena’s handbag more carefully.
The lining near the bottom had been cut.
A small slit.
Recent.
Serena swore she hadn’t noticed.
Forensics found fibers from a black nitrile glove inside.
Hospital security video from that afternoon showed Serena’s bag hanging on the back of her chair in the cafeteria.
For ninety seconds, Serena and I both went to the counter.
Someone passed behind us.
Dark jacket.
Baseball cap.
No clear face.
He touched the chair.
The bag shifted.
Could be innocent.
Could be planting.
Then another camera caught the person leaving.
He got into a silver sedan.
Registered to David Keller’s assistant.
That changed everything.
The vial might have been planted after Madeline was already hospitalized.
If so, Serena was being framed.
But David still wasn’t the only suspect.
Owen Voss had access to the medication.
David had motive.
Serena had lied.
And Madeline remained unconscious.
Then the hospital neurologist told us something.
Madeline had started responding to pain.
A good sign.
If she continued improving, she might wake within hours.
Serena looked relieved.
David did not.
I knew because he called again.
“Is she awake?”
“Not yet.”
He exhaled.
Too deeply.
Then:
“Preston, listen to me. If Madeline wakes up, don’t believe everything she says.”
I stared at the detective.
“Why?”
“Because the drugs can cause confusion.”
“How do you know what drugs she took?”
Silence.
David disconnected.
The room went still.
May you like
He had just revealed knowledge he should not have had.
👉 David’s warning about Madeline’s drug-induced confusion exposed something he had never been told—he already knew exactly what was in her system.
