“A joke?” I repeated. “No, Rachel. It’s not a joke. Just as it’s not a joke that you two are drowning in debt, or that you tried to poison me to inherit my money before I could ‘waste’ it on a foundation.”
Derek started to get up, but Nora stopped him with a firm gesture. “I suggest you two stay exactly where you are,” she said, her voice as cold as steel.
Rachel started to cry, large, theatrical tears rolling down her perfectly made-up face. “Mom, I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about! I would never!”
It was an impressive performance. If I didn’t have Victor’s words, if I didn’t have the report, I might have even believed her. “Rachel,” I said, my voice finally breaking a little. “The waiter saw everything. Victor. He saw you put something in my glass while I was on the phone.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Derek looked at Rachel, who had stopped crying. Her face now showed something different. It was no longer fear or shock. It was cold calculation.
“This is ridiculous,” Derek finally spoke. “You’re accusing us based on the testimony of a waiter and a lab report that could have been faked.”