MY HUSBAND'S MISTRESS SECRETLY DROPPED AN ILLEGAL DRUG INTO MY WINE, AND I CAUGHT HER IN THE ACT. SHE EVEN LAUGHED, "RELAX, SIS YOU CAN'T DRINK!" I GRABBED HER HAIR AND FORCED HER TO FINISH IT ALL, LEAVING MY HUSBAND FROZEN IN SHOCK.

At 6:30 AM, Daniel was released from the precinct after posting bail on a preliminary obstruction charge. He didn't come home in a taxi; he walked up the long driveway, looking like a man who had survived an explosion. His tie was undone, his collar smudged with dirt, and his eyes wild with terror.

He found me sitting on the front porch, dressed in an immaculate charcoal-gray pantsuit, my hair pulled back into a severe, sleek chignon.

"Claire!" he shouted, stumbling up the steps. "Claire, thank God you're still here. We have to talk. You have to drop these charges. You don't understand what’s happening!"

I didn't stand up. I looked at him as if he were an insect crawling across a clean floor.

"Vanessa tricked me," Daniel cried, dropping to his knees before my chair. He reached out to grab my knees, but I shifted slightly, letting his hands fall onto the cold stone. "She told me it was a mild sedative! She said you were getting too suspicious, that you were going to ruin our family with your paranoia. She told me if you were asleep, she could access your personal safe and take your financial files so you wouldn't cause a scene at the firm!"

"A mild sedative?" I asked, my voice dangerously calm. "The toxicology lab found eight hundred milligrams of synthetic carfentanil in that glass, Daniel. A grain of salt of that powder could stop a horse's heart."

Daniel froze. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.

"Did you really think I didn't know about Zurich?" I continued, leaning forward. "Did you think I didn't know about Aegis Consulting? Did you think I didn't know that Vanessa was sleeping in my bed when I took trips to visit my mother?"

"I... I was under her spell," he wept, tears streaming down his cheeks. "She threatened to expose me to the board! She forced me to transfer the money! Claire, I love you. Everything I did was to protect our future. You're a prosecutor—you can fix this. You can tell Miller it was an accident!"

I pulled a small digital recorder from my pocket and pressed the stop button. A soft chime sounded in the morning air.

"Thank you, Daniel," I said. "That’s an explicit admission of prior knowledge regarding the administration of a controlled substance and premeditated theft of personal documents."

Daniel’s expression turned from feigned sorrow to sheer, unadulterated venom. "You recorded me?"