Chapter 7 - The Betrayal
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Detective Mason stood up slowly, placing his hand firmly on his holstered service weapon. "Sit down, Ethan."
Instead of obeying, Ethan backed slowly toward the open door, his eyes darting frantically between the crime scene photos of his dead first wife and my cast-bound body.
"You don't understand," Ethan stammered, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. "This... this is a mistake."
"Your mother was arrested less than an hour ago, Ethan," Mason said, his voice dropping an octave into a low command. "We caught her on tape trying to suffocate Claire with a pillow. It's over."
Ethan froze. But he didn't look grieved or shocked by his mother's arrest.
Instead, a look of profound, terrifying betrayal washed over his features. He didn't look like a grieving husband or a cold-blooded killer; he looked like a terrified child whose safety net had just been ripped away.
"She promised..." Ethan muttered under his breath, his eyes wide and unblinking. "She promised me Emily was never going to come up again. She said she buried it."
Mason took a slow step forward, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Who promised you that, Ethan? Your mother?"
Ethan shook his head violently, backing further into the hallway. "No... no, not my mother!"
Two uniformed officers stepped out from the shadows of the corridor, moving behind Ethan to block his escape route. Within seconds, they slammed Ethan against the wall, pulling his arms behind his back and clicking heavy handcuffs around his wrists.
Ethan didn't struggle. He stared at me through the open doorway, his eyes filled with an emotion I had never seen on his face before.
Not hatred. Not anger.
Pity.
"Claire..." Ethan whispered, his voice trembling violently. "You think my mother pushed you off that balcony?"
A wave of cold fury washed over me. "I know she did! Or you did!"
Ethan shook his head slowly, tears spilling down his pale cheeks. "I was downstairs in the kitchen getting a glass of water when you fell, Claire. I swear to God on my life... I didn't touch you."
"You're lying!" I screamed, my voice cracking with pain. "There was no one else in the house!"
"I wish I were lying," Ethan whimpered, looking toward the large frosted observation window set into the wall beside my hospital bed.
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His face transformed into a mask of pure, unadulterated terror.
"Mason..." Ethan choked out, his knees buckling beneath him. "Look at the window."
