Chaos erupted. The workers called emergency services, and within minutes Amara was back in a hospital bed, surrounded by doctors.

When one of them approached Etha, his face was ghostly.

“Mr. Carter,” he said, “your wife was poisoned. We found hemlock in her blood — a toxin that slows breathing and heart rate. It can mimic death. Another hour, and she’d have been…”
He didn’t finish.

Etha’s mind raced. A memory — a teacup. His mother’s voice.

That night, he handed the police the packet Helen had left behind. Tests confirmed it: hemlock extract.

When they brought her in, Helen’s mask of dignity cracked.

“Why would I hurt her?” she shouted. “She was carrying my grandson!”

But when confronted with the evidence, her fury spilled out.