Free With Family In Mind (Saddle Falls Book 1) by Sharon de Vita

day—the homemade cookies, the home-cooked meals—were laced with a wide assortment of various poisons, different things that were slowly causing the kid’s organs to shut down. The doctors knew something was poisoning the kid, but they thought it was something internal—you know, her own body turning on itself the way it does when, say, there is internal gangrene poisoning. They tested her, of course, forany number of things, but there was such a variety of poisons in the food, things that were virtually untraceable unless you specifically tested for that type of poison.”
    “So how the hell did you—did they—catch her?” His look of horror, of disgust, was clear.
    “I think it was just pure luck. The mother got either very bold or very careless. We’ll never know which. She began crushing up tablets used for people who have thyroid problems, or who have had their thyroid removed. In the correct dosage, when this drug is prescribed properly, it can be a lifesaver, doing the work of the damaged or missing thyroid. But in a child with a normal, healthy thyroid, the drug can be an overdosing agent and causes extreme cardiac distress, even coronary thrombosis—a severe heart attack in some cases. The kid developed severe arrhythmia—something not normally found in an eight-year-old child.”
    “Damn!” Shaken, Jake dragged a hand through his hair. “You mean she could have died?” Shock sharpened his eyes, his voice.
    “She almost did die,” Rebecca corrected softly, averting her gaze from his simply because looking directly at him was too disconcerting, especially when he was so close. She took a deep breath to gather her thoughts. “Fortunately, this drug is easily detected in the bloodstream. Doctors discovered the poisoning within a few days.” She dared a glance at him. He was still watching her intently, causing her heart to knock against her ribs in a staccato rhythm. “They knew the only way the kid could have gotten a prescription medication like that into her system wasfrom something she ingested. Her medication was strictly monitored, as was her food. The mother was immediately suspect—she was the only visitor the girl had other than the family priest, and he was ruled out since he’d only visited once, a week before this final incident.” Acutely aware of Jake in the close, warm confines of the car, Rebecca nervously pushed her hair off her neck. “From my background investigation, I learned that the kid’s father had had a complete thyroidectomy three years prior to his death. He’d been taking this drug daily from the time of his surgery until he died.”
    “My God.” Jake shook his head. “She was giving the kid the father’s medication?” At Rebecca’s nod, he blew out a breath and shook his head. She could see his anger in the sudden tenseness of his shoulders. “What the hell kind of woman tries to kill her own kid?”
    “She wasn’t trying to kill her, Jake,” she said softly. “That’s the point.”
    “Well, she did one hell of an imitation.”
    “Yes, but killing the child wasn’t the object, getting the attention she craved via her daughter’s numerous illnesses was.” Rebecca paused. “The mother was as sick emotionally as her child was physically. Munchausen is an emotional and psychological disease, very real and very dangerous. It’s basically a parental cry for attention.”
    “So because this woman wanted attention, she poisoned her own kid?” He scowled, causing those glorious eyes to darken. “I can’t even conceive of anyone deliberately hurting their own child, or someone theylove.” He shook his head again. “It’s inconceivable to me, and so foreign to everything I’ve been brought up to believe.” It was his turn to pause, and he turned to glance out the windshield as he struggled to get his emotions under control. “Family is sacred to me, Rebecca,” he finally said, his voice so quiet, so achingly sad it made her own heart ache,