Chapter 9 - The Bottle in Andrew’s CarPropranolol was not automatically poison.
It was a common medication.
Used for blood pressure, heart rhythm, migraines, anxiety.
But Andrew had a complex cardiac condition.
Certain medications could worsen low blood pressure or alter conduction.
The question was dose.
Did he take any?
Why was Celeste’s bottle in his vehicle?
Celeste’s attorney answered first.
“She often rode in Andrew’s car.”
True.
“She may have left it.”
Possible.
The bottle was empty.
Could have been used normally before.
No proof.
Andrew’s preserved blood sample offered another possibility.
The same stored specimen used for DNA testing was collected months before death.
Useless for toxicology.
But hospital pathology sometimes retained postmortem samples.
Kara searched.
A small blood specimen remained at the medical examiner’s office due to Andrew’s unusual cardiac history.
Testing could be performed.
Evelyn felt sick waiting.
Madison stayed with her at Evelyn’s townhouse, not Hawthorne.
The mansion was now a crime scene in pieces.
The child wanted no part of it.
Yolanda stayed too.
One evening Madison asked:
“If Celeste goes to jail, can we sell the house?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“You want to?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay.”
“It feels like everyone wants it.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t.”
That surprised Evelyn.
Madison continued:
“I liked it when Dad was there.”
Then:
“Now it’s just… big.”
Evelyn understood.
Adults had turned the mansion into a symbol.
Legacy.
Money.
Revenge.
Ownership.
Madison saw rooms.
Some good.
Some bad.
“Your father’s will gives you significant rights later.”
“I’m eleven.”
“Yes.”
“So you decide?”
“For now, trustees and court structures decide.”
“Can I say what I want?”
“Absolutely.”
Madison nodded.
“I don’t want to live there.”
Decision one.
Evelyn would honor it.
The toxicology result arrived two days later.
Propranolol detected.
Level:
Therapeutic to mildly elevated.
Not necessarily fatal.
But Andrew had not been prescribed it.
Another medication appeared.
Verapamil.
Also not prescribed to him.
Combination of beta blocker and calcium channel blocker could be dangerous in someone with Andrew’s condition.
Celeste had prescriptions for both at different times.
Evelyn stared at Kara.
“You’re saying she poisoned him.”
“I’m saying he had medications in his system that were not prescribed to him and which could have contributed to cardiac collapse.”
“Could he have taken them voluntarily?”
“Yes.”
“Why would he?”
“We don’t know.”
Andrew sometimes borrowed Celeste’s anxiety medication?
No one remembered.
His doctor strongly advised against unsupervised cardiac medications.
He was meticulous.
Unlikely.
Kara obtained pharmacy records.
Celeste refilled propranolol four days before Andrew died.
Verapamil prescription from months earlier.
Messages from Andrew’s phone were recovered from cloud backup.
The afternoon before death:
Andrew to Celeste: Did you move my pill organizer?
Celeste: No.
Andrew: Something looks different.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Then:
Celeste: You’re paranoid because of the land stuff.
Andrew:
Maybe.
Later:
Andrew: I’m taking Rebecca’s papers to Malcolm tomorrow. This ends.
Celeste:** Do whatever you want.
Final message.
No threat.
But now pill organizer mattered.
Investigators searched Hawthorne.
Andrew’s old medication containers long gone.
Yolanda remembered Celeste frequently prepared Andrew’s travel bag during the final months because his fainting episodes worsened.
“Did she handle his pills?”
“Yes.”
“How often?”
“Weekly.”
That created opportunity.
But not proof.
Then Grant Mercer requested cooperation.
He was scared.
His attorney negotiated no guarantees.
Grant admitted forging Andrew’s signature on the deed.
At Celeste’s request.
He claimed he believed the transfer would settle an old family claim.
Weak excuse.
He also admitted helping obtain Julian’s DNA sample.
He did not know it would be mislabeled.
Then Kara asked:
“Did Celeste ever discuss Andrew’s death?”
Grant became pale.
“What?”
“Did she tell you anything before?”
“No.”
“After?”
He hesitated.
“Once.”
“What?”
“She said Andrew’s heart had solved a timing problem.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Not confession.
But cruel.
Grant continued.
“I told her not to say things like that.”
“When?”
“Two days after funeral.”
“Anything else?”
“She asked if toxicology could reopen after burial.”
Kara stared.
“What did you tell her?”
“That there usually wouldn’t be reason.”
“And?”
“She said, ‘Good.’”
The room went silent.
That was worse.
Still not proof of administration.
But consciousness of concern.
Police arrested Celeste on fraud, forgery conspiracy, and child-abuse charges first.
The death investigation continued.
She denied killing Andrew.
Through counsel:
“I loved my husband.”
Evelyn believed it might even be true.
People could love and still harm.
But the question was not love.
It was whether Celeste put medication into Andrew’s pills because his death removed the one person who could expose the property scheme.
Then investigators found a deleted note on Celeste’s phone.
Not a message.
A personal reminder.
Dated the week Andrew died.
Half dose didn’t change anything. Ask G about interactions.
G.
Grant?
Or someone else?
May you like
If that note referred to Andrew—
the case had just shifted from suspicion to possible planning.
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