Chapter 7 - THE TRADITION
The Moretti birthday tradition sounded harmless.
First slice went to the birthday child.
Second to the parent.
Elena had started it when Ethan turned one.
Every year.
Photographs proved it.
That meant the poison did not need to contaminate the whole cake.
Only the ceremonial portion.
Lab analysis showed the highest concentration was in frosting from one side near the top cutting line.
Target:
very likely Ethan.
Not the room.
Not Dominic.
Not random guests.
Grace felt sick.
Lily had not understood poison.
She had seen a man pressing something from a small clear dispenser into the frosting near the kitchen door.
Earlier that week, Grace had stopped Lily from touching a medicine syringe used for children’s fever reducer.
“Medicine is not candy,” Grace had told her.
Lily remembered shapes better than words.
At the party she saw the same kind of object near cake.
Then ran.
A two-year-old did not solve a poisoning.
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She recognized something that looked wrong.
Adults had to prove the rest.
