Chapter 2 - Barely Breathing
Emily pressed two fingers against her father’s neck.
A pulse.
Weak, but present.
She leaned over her mother and watched her chest rise beneath the lavender cardigan.
“They’re breathing,” Emily whispered. “They’re still breathing.”
She reached for her phone and called emergency services.
The operator instructed her to keep both of them still and check their breathing. Emily placed the call on speaker and moved between her parents.
Her father’s eyelids fluttered, but he did not wake.
Two mugs sat on the wooden coffee table. A spoon rested beside one of them. An open weekly pill organizer lay near the sugar bowl.
Emily stared at the scene.
Her parents took different medications at different times. They never left the organizer open. Her mother checked it every morning and closed each compartment immediately.
“Did they take the wrong medicine?” the operator asked.
“I don’t know,” Emily replied. “They both collapsed. There are drinks on the table.”
“Do not touch or remove anything.”
Emily pulled her hand back from the nearest mug.
Beneath it, she noticed the edge of a folded receipt.
She could read only part of the store’s name.
QuickPrint Business Center.
Why would a copy shop receipt be beneath her father’s coffee mug?
A faint light blinked near the open front door.
Emily looked up.
The old doorbell camera was mounted beside the porch light. Her father had complained about it for months.
Dad said that camera was broken.
Another blink.
Emily slowly rose.
“But it recorded whoever came here.”
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Sirens sounded in the distance.
She did not yet understand that the blinking light would become the most important witness in the house.
