Chapter 7 - The Slip of the TongueThe words hung in the sterile air of the hospital room like a sudden drop in temperature.
“He didn't finish the job.”
I froze. Detective Miller, who had been standing near the door with a warm, approving smile, instantly snapped his head toward Aunt Clara. His cop radar flared up with blinding intensity.
"Excuse me?" Detective Miller stepped forward, his voice dropping an octave into official interrogation mode. "What did you just say, Ms. Sterling?"
Aunt Clara blinked, her green eyes darting around the room as if she had just woken up from a trance. The raw, emotional warmth that had filled her face a second ago vanished, replaced by a sudden, rigid tension.
"I... I didn't mean anything," she stammered, forcing a shaky, high-pitched laugh. "I just meant... Victor didn't finish what he started with the estate papers! He was always trying to steal our family inheritance, you know? A real monster."
She smoothed down the lapels of her trench coat, but her hands were trembling violently.
Detective Miller didn't buy it for a single second. He took another step closer, his eyes narrowing. "Ms. Sterling, you didn't say 'estate papers.' You whispered that he didn't finish the job. How did you know what Victor's specific intent was regarding the children, considering you just landed in the country an hour ago and haven't spoken to the police about the details of the crime scene yet?"
The room went dead silent. Little Maya let out a soft coo in her bassinet, completely oblivious to the sudden, suffocating tension.
Leo looked confusedly between Detective Miller and his aunt. "Aunt Clara? What are they talking about?"
Clara looked at Leo, her expression softening into something desperate and pleading. But when she looked back at Detective Miller, her face hardened into a mask of pure ice.
"I want my lawyer," she said flatly.
"Your lawyer?" Detective Miller barked a harsh, humorless laugh. "Lady, you just walked into a secure hospital ward with court-stamped emergency guardianship papers that you somehow managed to file before official next-of-kin notification even went out. You knew where these kids were, didn't you?"
"That's absurd!" Clara snapped, raising her voice. "I filed those papers through an international expedite service the moment I got the emergency alert from a family lawyer in this city!"
"What family lawyer?" I interjected, stepping out of the corner. "You just said you had a falling out with your family a decade ago and lived overseas. Who in this city even had your contact information to tell you the kids were in danger?"
Clara glared at me, her green eyes flashing with pure venom. "Stay out of this, mister hero. You don't know anything about my family."
"Actually, I know a lot about saving kids from cars," I fired back, stepping right up to her. "And right now, something smells rotten. Detective, check those guardianship papers she brought. Look at the timestamp."
Detective Miller snatched the manila folder right out of Sarah Jenkins's shocked hands. He flipped open the documents, his eyes scanning the notary stamps and digital filing signatures.
"My god," Detective Miller breathed, his eyes widening in disbelief. "The filing timestamp on these emergency papers... it was logged at 1:15 PM today."
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He looked up at the clock on the hospital wall. It read 3:45 PM.
Then he looked back at the paperwork. "The 911 call reporting the trapped children wasn't made until 2:30 PM. Ms. Sterling... these papers were filed an hour before anyone even knew the kids were locked in that minivan."
