Marcus reached into his interior coat pocket, withdrew a clear, heat-sealed forensic evidence bag, and held it up beneath the fluorescent light.
Inside the bag was an amber-glass pharmaceutical vial with an unlabelled silver dropper, half-filled with an oily, translucent liquid.
“This vial was recovered twenty-four minutes ago during a federal search warrant executed on your desk at Vance-Sterling Architectural Logistics LLC, Paula,” Marcus said softly.
Paula’s breath locked in her throat. Her eyes bulged in pure, unadulterated terror.
“The chemical inside this vial,” Marcus continued, each word dropping like an iron weight into the room, “is Progest-X-Nine—a synthetic, non-FDA-approved abortifacient compound synthesized exclusively in unauthorized offshore laboratories in Zurich.”
Marcus looked directly into Paula’s dilated pupils:
“You have been spiking Laura’s almond-milk tea with this compound twice a week since the second week of December.”
“You did it when you visited her house to ‘ask for cooking recipes.’”
