Chapter 6 - THE HOURS ROBERT WAITED
Amanda’s smartwatch data created a minute-by-minute record.
At 12:03 a.m., she fell in the kitchen.
At 12:06, the watch detected movement consistent with her attempting to crawl.
At 12:09, her heart rate rose briefly.
At 12:11, someone removed the watch.
Robert’s navigation system showed his car remained in the garage until 3:17.
He spent more than three hours inside the house with Amanda.
He never called for help.
A home assistant speaker preserved one voice command from 12:07.
Amanda’s weak voice said:
“Call emergency services.”
The device answered:
“I’m sorry. Calling features are disabled.”
Someone had turned off emergency calling in the settings eleven minutes earlier.
The change required the household administrator password.
Only Robert and Amanda knew it.
Amanda’s laptop showed no login.
Robert’s phone was in Indianapolis.
But his tablet connected to the home system at 11:56.
The emergency feature had been disabled from that device.
Robert had removed Amanda’s final easy path to help.
At 12:14, the speaker captured another sound.
Robert’s voice.
“You should have signed.”
Then the audio stopped because the device was manually unplugged.
Lena listened several times before showing Grace.
The recording did not include Amanda’s reply.
There may not have been one.
Robert was arrested at his attorney’s office that afternoon.
He was charged initially with evidence tampering, financial fraud, and obstruction while prosecutors prepared the homicide case.
Cameras gathered outside the courthouse.
Robert said nothing publicly.
Inside the interview room, he denied poisoning Amanda.
He admitted returning home.
He admitted the argument.
He admitted cleaning the kitchen.
“I panicked.”
“You disabled emergency calling before she collapsed,” Lena said.
“I didn’t.”
“Your tablet did.”
“Amanda used my tablet.”
“Why would she disable her own ability to call for help?”
“She was emotional.”
“You unplugged the speaker.”
“I don’t remember.”
“You told her she should have signed.”
Robert stared at the table.
Lena placed the forged development agreement in front of him.
Amanda’s signature appeared at the bottom.
The document would have transferred another eight hundred thousand dollars into Hollow Ridge Development.
Amanda refused.
Robert brought the agreement home that night.
“You drugged her to force a signature,” Lena said.
“No.”
“When she refused, you let her die.”
“No.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Robert requested his attorney.
The interview ended.
Katie watched none of the arrest coverage.
Grace took her to a quiet apartment while Amanda’s relatives prepared a second funeral date. Katie remained afraid the burial would happen before she understood everything.
Grace explained that a funeral did not erase evidence.
“It feels like closing a door,” Katie said.
“It can feel that way.”
“What if Mom left something else?”
“We will keep looking.”
That evening, Katie remembered Amanda’s dark blue robe.
After the argument, the belt had been missing.
Police had inventoried the robe but found no belt at the house.
Katie believed Amanda wrapped something inside it.
“She used it when she hid Christmas presents,” Katie said. “She tied the sleeves together.”
Lena ordered another search of Robert’s industrial property.
Behind stacked flooring materials, officers found the robe belt tied around a plastic envelope.
Inside was the unsigned development agreement, a small memory card, and three photographs of Robert crushing white tablets on the kitchen counter.
Amanda had placed a hidden camera near the pantry after suspecting he entered her office.
The photographs were automatic still images from that camera.
The memory card likely contained the full recording.
Robert had found the belt after Amanda collapsed and taken it with the rug.
He tried to burn the rug.
He hid the belt instead of destroying it, perhaps because it contained financial documents he wanted to examine later.
The memory card was damaged but readable.
Its first restored frame showed Robert preparing Amanda’s tea.
The second showed him opening a folded paper containing crushed medication.
The third showed Amanda entering the kitchen behind him.
Robert turned quickly.
The recording included audio.
Amanda asked:
May you like
“What are you putting in my cup?”
👉 Amanda had confronted Robert before drinking the tea, and the damaged recording might reveal how he persuaded her to take it anyway.
