Chapter 2

When the doors to the emergency room finally opened, Lennon was transferred to a regular ward. Lying limp on the hospital bed, his small face was pale and lifeless.

Captain Moore treaded softly toward the bed and asked gently, "Lennon, tell me, what did you eat at home today? When you drank the orange juice, did it taste strange?"

Maeve's eyes, however, remained locked on Lennon. I immediately stepped forward and blocked her line of sight. "Be honest with us, Lennon. The police officer is here. No one would dare to hurt you."

Lennon took a look at Captain Moore and responded quietly, "The orange juice Mae squeezed was sweet. But... as soon as I finished it, my tummy started hurting really bad on its own."

Noticing the grave looks settling over the room, Lennon exerted all his strength to raise his hand and grab Captain Moore's sleeve. "Mae's so good to me, officer. Please don't take her away… She gets up before dawn every day to make me breakfast, and she even buys me limited-edition figurines. When I have nightmares at night, she always holds me until I fall asleep…

"My body's just acting up, officer. Please don't blame her…" Because he was overly emotional, the heart monitor let out rapid, high-pitched beeps.

Startled, Hubert immediately lunged forward and held Lennon's restless hands.

Maeve, who was beside him, muffled her sobs and approached the hospital bed. Then, she tenderly touched Lennon's forehead, which was covered in cold sweat. "Lennon... my good boy... Hubert, did you hear that? He really appreciates everything I've done... Now, even if I were wrongly accused and died with my name stained today, I would accept it!"

Guilt flooded Hubert's eyes in an instant. His voice was strained as he apologized. "I'm so sorry, Maeve. I can't believe I doubted you because of a baseless accusation from an outsider. I've seen everything you've done for Lennon."

Hubert drew a deep breath and confronted me sternly. "Dr. Young, now that Lennon has spoken up, it's clear that there was nothing wrong with that orange juice! Based solely on your own assumptions, you accused my family of poisoning it in front of the cops. I genuinely don't understand why you're so hostile toward my wife!"

Maeve lifted her tear-streaked face from Hubert's chest, looking as though she had suffered the ultimate injustice. "Dr. Young, I know I'm his stepmother, so people are always going to look at me through tinted glasses. However, you can't accuse me of poisoning him based on nothing but your whim and dismiss the two years of love, care, and devotion I've given Lennon!"

I stared intently at Lennon, who was lying on the hospital bed. At that moment, his liver's voice blared in my head again.

"He's lying! The second he swallowed that juice, I was burned so badly that I was convulsing. How could there possibly be nothing wrong with it?"

"Exactly! If it weren't for the timely emergency treatment, I would've stopped working long ago!"

Captain Moore's brows knitted as well, looking at me with a complicated expression. "Now that the kid himself claims there was nothing wrong with the juice, it's going to be hard for us to dig deeper…"

I stared at Maeve, who discreetly looked pleased with herself, and forced myself to remain calm. "The patient may have chosen to hide the truth out of fear, but his body's physiological response cannot lie. The remaining orange juice in the glass has already been sent to the laboratory for expedited testing."

I took a step forward and hardened my tone. "Whether you've been terribly wronged or you're guilty of premeditated murder, the truth will reveal itself shortly!"