Chapter 23
Emma walked down to the main lobby, where a uniformed court courier was waiting beside the security desk.
He handed her a thick white envelope stamped with the official seal of the New York State Department of Corrections.
Emma signed the digital receipt, taking the envelope into a private conference room off the main lobby.
She tore open the paper seal, pulling out an official administrative notice marked URGENT NOTIFICATION.
The document was an emergency psychiatric transfer order signed by a state supreme court judge two hours ago.
Victoria Sterling-Lenz had been transferred from the correctional facility to the Bellevue Hospital forensic unit.
The reason listed on the official court document was a severe, life-threatening medical emergency suffered in her cell.
Emma’s heart skipped a beat as she read the medical details listed in the attachment:
PATIENT INGESTED A RARE PARALYTIC TOXIN OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN DURING EVENING MEAL.
Emma gasped, holding the document under the bright room light as cold sweat broke out across her forehead.
The paralytic toxin mentioned in the report was identical to the substance Victoria had used on her Swiss husband.
Someone inside the correctional facility had slipped the poison into Victoria’s food to silence her permanently before trial.
And if Victoria was in a coma at Bellevue Hospital, she couldn't testify against Julian Vance or her international syndicate.
May you like
Emma’s phone buzzed in her hand; it was a text message from an unknown international number in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Silence is expensive, Emma. But removing a witness is completely free.”
