The heavy front doors of the dining hall swung open, and four uniformed police officers marched onto the marble floor, accompanied by two medical examiners carrying black forensic cases.
Officer Davis: Judge Harrison, we received a high-priority call regarding an attempted murder on a federal judge.
Judge Harrison: Officer Davis, thank goodness you arrived quickly. Please inspect the upside-down mahogany chair near the head table.
Officer Davis nodded to the medical examiners, who immediately knelt beside the overturned seat. Using specialized silver tongs, the lead examiner carefully extracted the rigged syringe from the spring cushion and placed it inside a clear plastic evidence bag.
Medical Examiner: Sir, the syringe contains roughly three milliliters of an unidentified clear liquid. The needle trigger mechanism was custom-built using a small steel spring and double-sided adhesive.
Judge Harrison: Is it potassium chloride, as the girl suggested?
Medical Examiner: We will run a rapid field test right now, Judge.
The examiner squeezed three drops of the liquid into a small test tube containing a chemical reagent. Within five seconds, the clear liquid turned a dark, vivid purple.
Medical Examiner: Confirmed, sir. It is high-concentration potassium chloride mixed with a fast-acting muscle relaxant. Sitting on this needle would have caused complete respiratory paralysis within two minutes.
The guests in the dining hall gasped once again, stepping back toward the walls in sheer panic.
Officer Davis: Who put this device here?
Maya: Mrs. Evelyn Sterling put it there, Officer. I saw her tampering with the cushion right before the dinner started.
Evelyn: That girl is framing me! She is trying to steal my family's fortune!
Officer Davis: Mrs. Sterling, do you mind if we search your private office suite upstairs?
Evelyn: You don't have a warrant! You cannot step foot into my private quarters without a signed warrant from a magistrate!
Judge Harrison: I am a federal judge, Evelyn, and I am issuing an emergency warrant right here and right now based on physical evidence and eyewitness testimony!
Evelyn: You can't do that! That is a conflict of interest!
Judge Harrison: Officer Davis, take two men upstairs immediately. Search the desk drawers, the trash bins, and her private safe.
Officer Davis: Right away, Judge. Miller, Johnson, follow me upstairs.
Evelyn's hands began to shake violently. Her face turned pale as she watched the two officers hurry up the grand marble staircase toward her private wing.
Richard: Mother... give them the safe combination. Don't make them break the door down.
Evelyn: Shut up, you coward! If I go down, you go down with me!
Richard: I had nothing to do with the syringe! You told me you were just going to offer the judge a bribe!
Maya: So you admit she planned to compromise Judge Harrison's ruling!
Richard: Yes! She wanted to pay him five hundred thousand dollars to dismiss the biological daughter's claim!
Evelyn: You idiot! You just confessed to a federal crime in front of forty witnesses!
Richard: I'm not going to prison for your murder plot, Mother! I'm telling the truth!
Judge Harrison shook his head in disgust, looking at the mother and son squabbling like cornered rats on the marble floor.
Judge Harrison: The web of lies is unraveling fast, Evelyn. And you have nowhere left to hide.