Chapter 10 - The child interview
Lucas’s formal interview was simple.
He had gone into the pantry to look for:
“the rainbow crackers.”
He saw a sparkly cosmetic pouch behind cereal.
He knew the pouch belonged to Aunt Megan because he had seen her using it earlier to take out lip balm.
He opened it.
Inside were:
A few wrapped personal items.
A small medicine insert.
Several pale tablets.
Lucas said one:
“looked like the mint Dad has in his car.”
Robert kept breath mints.
Lucas took one.
Put it in his mouth.
It tasted:
“bad and chalky.”
He swallowed because it had already started dissolving.
Did Aunt Megan tell him to take it?
“No.”
Did anyone?
“No.”
Did anyone see?
“No.”
Did he take more than one?
“I don’t think.”
Did he bring the pouch out?
“No.”
He closed it.
Later, he went back?
He thought maybe.
Could not remember.
Important uncertainty.
Did he touch the medicine box on the floor when he collapsed?
He did not remember the collapse.
How did the carton get near him if the pouch was in the pantry?
Police reconstructed a plausible answer.
After finding the tablet strange, Lucas may have carried the small carton or insert out.
Or another child moved it.
Or Megan had handled a related box earlier.
No camera inside the kitchen.
No need to invent certainty.
The important evidence was:
Medication packaging.
Megan’s admission.
Pharmacy records.
Henry’s missing supply.
Lucas’s toxicology.
His account of finding a tablet in Megan’s pouch.
No evidence anyone handed it to him.
The story changed.
Not intentional poisoning.
Criminally dangerous storage and concealment.
Possibly medication theft.
Possibly child endangerment.
May you like
Different.
Still serious.
