My Fingerprint Was on the Bottle, but I Wasn’t on the Hook Chapter 05

My Fingerprint Was on the Bottle, but I Wasn’t on the Hook Chapter 05

It was a small black flash drive with a handwritten label: “Grandma’s living room – backup.”

Derek’s lips trembled.

I handed it to the officer. “This is the cloud backup from a security camera I installed in Grandma’s living room three months ago. She lived alone—I was worried about her. It uploads automatically.”

The officer took the drive and glanced at Derek.

Derek’s skin had gone chalk white.

Patricia kept going. “So what if she put up a camera? That doesn’t prove—”

“Mom.” Derek’s voice came out thin. “Stop talking.”

She blinked at him.

I kept my eyes on the officer. “That footage shows exactly what happened after I left. Someone let himself in with a spare key. Walked straight to the coffee table. Opened the brand-new bottle I’d just bought. And swapped every single pill inside.”

I turned to Derek. “His face is crystal clear.”

Derek’s head jerked up, eyes bloodshot. His mouth opened and closed around nothing.

The crowd noise shifted. Murmurs turned sharp.

“Wait—so it was the husband?”

—

“Holy shit. He killed his own grandma?”

The officer secured the flash drive. His entire posture changed. “Mr. Foster, we’re going to need you to come down to the station as well.”

Derek didn’t move. He stood there hollowed out, a man with no bones left.

Patricia grabbed his arm. “Derek, she’s lying, right? Tell them she’s lying!”

He shook her off.

He stared at me, hatred twisting through the fear. “When did you put that camera in?”

I didn’t answer.

I just looked at him like he was nothing. Less than nothing.

The officer stepped forward. “Mr. Foster. Let’s go.”

Derek’s body swayed—then he bolted. He shoved through the crowd and sprinted toward the exit. One officer took off after him while the other cut him off from the side.

He made it less than twenty yards. They put him on the ground and the cuffs clicked shut with a sound like a slap.

Patricia sagged onto the floor, mouth quivering, silent at last.

He was still thrashing, screaming, “Get off me! I didn’t do anything! She set me up!”

But nobody believed it anymore.

—

My hands were shaking, but I didn’t cry.

From the second I got that phone call yesterday, I knew I’d never really been his wife. I was just a piece on his board. A piece meant to be thrown away.

But he miscalculated one thing.

He thought I was just a piece on his board. But pieces can move.