They looked for evidence.

They allowed room for uncertainty.

I was beginning to learn that uncertainty could be safer than certainty wielded as a threat.

PART 13

Detective Vale called with an update on the pills about two weeks after Sadie’s operation.

The hospital’s initial toxicology testing had not identified a cause for every sleepy episode Sadie described.

Some medicines would not appear on a routine panel, and the timing of the samples limited what could be concluded.

“Does that mean she wasn’t given anything?” I asked.