Chapter 5 - The Hair in the Bag
Anna stepped toward the equipment bag.
Dererick moved to stop her.
She lifted the scissors from the comforter and held them between them.
Not as a weapon.
As a warning to remain back.
“Don’t touch the bag.”
He stopped.
Anna used the miniature camera to zoom in.
The transparent packet held several strands of long gray hair.
Evelyn’s hair had been silver-gray.
Beside it was a sealed cotton swab and a small bottle labeled only with a number.
The label was too small to read clearly.
“What are those?” Anna asked.
Melissa spoke through the door.
“Anna, please open up.”
“Answer me.”
Dererick’s voice hardened.
“You are misinterpreting ordinary materials.”
“Why do you have my dead mother’s hair?”
“It isn’t hers.”
“Then whose is it?”
He had no answer.
Anna photographed everything.
A second packet contained fibers matching the blanket from Evelyn’s bedroom.
Another held a broken gold clasp.
Anna recognized it.
Her mother’s necklace had been missing after the funeral.
Anna looked at Dererick.
“You were in her house the night she died.”
“I found her.”
“You told me Melissa found her.”
From the hallway, Melissa began breathing rapidly.
Anna turned toward the door.
“Which one of you found Mom?”
Melissa whispered, “I did.”
Dererick said, “We both did.”
The conflicting answers settled the question.
They had coordinated the story poorly because Anna had never challenged them together.
“You were both there.”
Melissa began pounding softly on the door.
“Let me explain.”
“Did you give her the medication?”
“No!”
“Did Dererick?”
“I don’t know.”
Dererick turned sharply toward the door.
“Stop talking.”
Anna saw fear cross his face for the first time.
Not fear of police.
Fear of Melissa.
The two of them did not share the same version of events.
Anna stepped closer to the door.
“Melissa, what did he tell you happened?”
Dererick moved toward her.
Anna raised the scissors again.
He stopped.
Melissa answered.
“He said Mom took the pills herself.”
“And you believed him?”
“I found the bottle beside her.”
Anna looked at the numbered bottle in the equipment bag.
“What kind of bottle?”
Melissa described it.
Small.
Amber glass.
White cap.
Exactly like the one now hidden in Dererick’s bag.
Anna felt the room tilt.
Dererick had not brought the bag only to stage footage of Anna.
He had brought evidence from Evelyn’s death.
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And someone had called him moments before he began.
Dr. Marcus Vale.
