Chapter 2 - The Interrogation Room
They took David away in handcuffs. He didn't fight them. He just kept looking at me with this hollow, chilling smile, shaking his head as if I were a hysterical child throwing a tantrum.
At the station, Detective Sarah Miller—a sharp-eyed woman in her forties with no patience for nonsense—sat me down in a stark room smelling of stale coffee. Lily was in the next room with a child advocate, safe and wrapped in a warm blanket.
"We found the vial in his pocket," Detective Miller said, sliding a photograph across the metal table. "And we found a dozen more hidden in a false bottom of his shaving kit. Do you know what this is?"
"No," I whispered, staring at the blue substance. "He told her it was a game. A secret."
"It's a highly experimental, unapproved synthetic compound," Miller said, her voice dropping an octave. "It’s designed to forcibly suppress the gag reflex and alter oxygen absorption in the bloodstream. It's meant for deep-sea diving military applications, but it was outlawed. It causes severe neurological fatigue."
The room spun. The crusted washcloth. The medicinal smell. The sheer exhaustion on my daughter's face every night. He wasn't playing with her. He was testing on her.
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"He’s a mid-level accountant, Detective," I gasped, clutching my hair. "Where would he even get something like this?"
Miller leaned in. "That’s exactly what we intend to find out. But I need you to understand something: the man you married isn't who you think he is."
