Chapter 2 - The Water Reserved for One ManPolice separated Richard, Celeste, Nora, and the gala staff.
The shattered glass was collected with the wet table linen and the silver tray from which Richard had taken it. Investigators also secured Nora’s watch and the ballroom footage.
Nora explained that Celeste had entered the service station ten minutes before the toast. She dismissed two servers and personally placed one glass at Richard’s position.
Nora became suspicious because every other glass came from sealed bottles opened by staff.
She activated her watch after seeing the vial.
“Why didn’t you warn me sooner?” Richard asked.
“I tried. Your security chief told me never to interrupt you during donor conversations.”
The answer embarrassed him.
The estate employed hundreds of people trained to protect his comfort before his safety.
Laboratory testing found a dangerous prescription compound in the remaining water. Detectives refused to discuss its likely effect publicly.
Celeste denied knowing exactly what the vial contained.
Richard remembered two recent incidents in which he became suddenly weak after private dinners.
Both times, Celeste had prepared his water.
May you like
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(1048x378:1050x380)/Jenna-Bush-Hager-100223-c94955eb572d47ea815a340c18c6e771.jpg)
Those episodes had been called exhaustion.
Now they looked like rehearsals.
