Chapter 365

The attorney consultation room at Denhurst Women's Correctional Facility is a dismal concrete block room painted gray.

The battered wooden tables and chairs are as uncomfortable as they look, and the sound of the metal door locking behind me sent a chill up my spine.

It made me wonder how much worse the prisoner’s cells were.

The defendant in the child murder case sat across the table from me and her public defender, Allen Cross.

Allen is a good lawyer. He cares about justice, but he’s burned out by the misery he sees every day and the unrepentant criminals he is expected to defend.

Marlee Krebs is one of his clients. She is accused of poisoning her own baby.

Despite being the only one who could have put antifreeze in her seven-month-old baby’s bottle, Marlee insisted she didn’t do it.

“You have to help me,” Marlee pleaded. “I would never hurt my baby. I loved Lexi with my whole heart. All I ever wanted was to marry and have kids.”

“If you didn’t do it, how did antifreeze get in your baby’s blood?” Allen asked. “Who else could have done it? Your husband?”

“No.” Marlee shook her head vehemently. “Troy wouldn’t do something like that. And he was working two jobs to make ends meet and was never home to feed Lexi.”

Marlee tried to hold out her hands to me, but she was shackled to the heavy table at her waist and wrists in case she tried to shift and escape.

“Please, Miss Wilson, you’re good at finding out the truth about stuff,” Marlee begged. “Can’t you find out who really did it? I swear it wasn’t me.”

I felt terrible for Marlee. She was in prison, probably for the rest of her life, and her husband was divorcing her. Troy Krebs told the police that Marlee had been stressed about being a mom and that the baby cried constantly.

So her mate thought she was guilty, and he knew her much better than I did.

Yet, there was something in her eyes and voice when she talked about little Lexi. Marlee was grieving hard for her baby daughter.

Would she grieve like this if she took the child’s life?

Then I remembered Victor’s advice and made up my mind.

“I will begin an investigation into Lexi’s death,” I said. “But whatever I find will be reported to the court. The truth is the most important thing. Whoever took Lexi’s life must be punished.”

“That’s why I asked for your help with this case,” Allen said. “Marlee, if Miss Wilson’s investigation proves you are responsible for Lexi’s death, you must plead guilty.”

“I’m not worried,” Marlee said. “I’m innocent, and that’s what she’s going to find.”

“Here is the case file.” Allen handed me a thick folder. “Everything you need to begin is inside.”

“Thank you, Miss Wilson,” Marlee said. “Nothing can bring Lexi back, but I can’t stand having everyone think I killed my baby.”

I nodded. “I’ll do my best. But I will report the truth no matter what I find.”

“That’s all I ask,” Marlee said.

Two guards entered the room to escort Marlee back to her cell, and Allen and I left the prison.

I didn’t have any classes this afternoon, so I could take the file back to the mansion and study it before deciding where to start on the investigation.

Several strangers waved and gave me a friendly smile as I walked to the parking garage. Climbing into my truck, I couldn't help being amazed again at how quickly Alex’s advice had worked.

The gentler college admissions reforms successfully enacted by Victor and Alex had made everyone happy.

Some Alphas had already begun attending predominantly Beta schools, and a few Betas had entered prestigious universities. There was still fringe opposition, but the majority of the people seemed content.

The faction had gone silent. Yet, Victor feared they would rise again when our guard was down.

But that was a worry for another day. I had an investigation to start. A woman’s life and justice for a seven-month-old baby depended on me.

Before I started the truck’s engine, my curiosity got the better of me, and I opened the folder.

The doctor who first treated Lexi Krebs when she was brought into the emergency room was an acquaintance of mine.

He had been highly recommended by Lana and Harry when the hospital was looking for a chief emergency room physician.

Maybe he would talk to me. I knew nothing about the poison that killed Lexi. I’m sure he could answer my questions.

I headed for Denhurst General, the Beta hospital. I was proud to have helped make it a reality.

I parked a block from the hospital and walked to the emergency room entrance. Several nurses and other staff smiled at me as I approached the reception desk.

“Hi,” I said to the woman at the desk. “I need to speak to Dr. Mancini, please.”

She put her hand on the desk phone. “Your name?”

“Daisy Wilson,” I replied, watching recognition cross her features and hoping she had a good opinion of me.

She made a call, spoke to someone briefly, and hung up. She wore a neutral smile when she showed me to the doctor’s office down the hallway behind her.

Dr. Mancini wasn’t there, but the receptionist told me to have a seat and help myself to coffee from the pot in one corner of the room.

“The doctor will be here soon, the receptionist said as she walked out of the office. “He’s with a patient.”

I poured myself a cup of the strong coffee and sat in a blue plastic chair in front of the desk.

The powdered creamer that was all that was available for the coffee stuck in lumps to the side of the paper cup. I poked it with my finger and tried a sip.

“That’s nasty,” I groaned and put the cup on the desk.

“I agree,” Dr Mancini said as he entered the room. “But I have no way to refrigerate cream.”

“I’m sorry.” I blushed, having been caught complaining about a free cup of coffee.

“It’s alright,” Dr. Mancini chuckled. “What can I do for you, Daisy?”

“I’m helping the Public Defender with a case,” I explained. “You were the victim’s physician.”

His eyebrows rose as he sat behind the desk. “Who was the victim?”

“Lexi Krebs,” I replied. “Her mother is on trial for poisoning her.”

Dr. Mancini sighed and ran a hand over his short, dark hair. “I sent the coroner a report that said I didn’t believe Lexi was poisoned. Nobody told me they charged the mother with her death.”

I was stunned. “You never suspected poison?”

“At first, I did,” Dr. Mancini replied. “Her symptoms and blood work suggested ethylene glycol poisoning.”

“Antifreeze, right?”

“Right.” Dr. Mancini said. “She was having neurological issues and there were crystals in her blood. That was followed by cardiopulmonary symptoms and then renal shutdown.”

“But you don’t think the cause was poisoning?”

Why hadn't the DA told Allen? Why was he bringing charges against Marlee if Lexi wasn't murdered?

“Other test results after Lexi’s death diagnosed her with MMA or Methylmalonic Acidemia,” Dr. Mancini said.

“What’s MMA?” I asked.

“It’s a genetic disorder that mimics ethylene glycol poisoning,” he explained. “I deeply regret that I didn't diagnose the MMA in time to treat it and prevent Lexi’s death.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “And I’m puzzled as to why Lexi Krebs’s mother is on trial for murder. I sent my report with the test results to the DA, and I spoke to the coroner on the phone. He agreed with my diagnosis.”

This case was getting stranger.

“Can I have a copy of your report for the Public Defender?” I asked.

“I’ll print a copy from her records.” Dr. Mancini began typing into his desktop computer.

“I don’t understand.” He stopped typing and stared at the screen before starting again. “It’s not here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked and bent over to look at the computer screen.

“My report is no longer in Lexi Krebs’s medical records,” he explained. “I don’t know why. It’s just gone without a trace.”

“Is there a hard copy?” I crossed my fingers.

“It should be in the basement records storage rooms,” he said. “But that could take days to find if it’s there.”

He rubbed his beard stubble and frowned. “This is very strange. How could my report go missing from the file? I scanned it into the system and signed off on it myself.”

“Could it have been deleted from Lexi’s file?” I sensed there was something bigger going on here.

“Only someone with high enough clearance could delete something from a patient’s record,” he said. “It was not an accident.”

My investigation just got a whole lot more interesting.