My Mother-in-law Tried To Poison My Chowder. I’m A Pharmacist, So I Knew Exactly What She Added. I Sent The “gift” To My Cheating Husband Instead.

The Statement

The small office at the hospital was stark, the fluorescent lights so harsh they made my skin look sallow.

I sat across from two detectives, one middle-aged, the other younger.

The older man introduced himself as Detective Miller, his voice low and steady, the kind of voice that had heard every confession imaginable.

The younger officer took notes, his eyes studying me carefully.

Detective Miller pushed a cup of warm water toward me.

“Miss Collins, please take your time. We need you to tell us everything from the beginning. Whatever you know, just say it,”.

I nodded.

My hands wrapped around the cup, its warmth spreading through my palms but doing little to calm my heart.

I knew that every word I spoke here would be irreversible.

But if I didn’t speak, I would have to live in cowardly silence, something I could no longer do.

“Tonight, I ordered seafood chowder for delivery,” I began, my voice slow and clear.

“When I went down to the trash chute and came back up, I saw my mother-in-law, Betty Collins, secretly sprinkling a white powder into the container,”.

The younger officer looked up at me.

Detective Miller didn’t interrupt.

“I work in pharmacology,” I continued.

“So I’m very sensitive to scents. I recognized it as a powdered drug, specifically an antibiotic from a group known to cause severe reactions when taken with alcohol,”.

“I didn’t eat it. Instead, I called my husband, Nathan. He said he was working late, so I offered to send the chowder to him for a late-night meal,”.

“Did you know where Mr. Collins was at that time?” Detective Miller asked.

“I checked his location on a tracking app. He was at the Pinnacle Towers in River North, not his office,”.

I continued without omitting a single detail: the phone call, the apartment address, giving the chowder back to the delivery driver.

When I got to the part about receiving the call from the ER, my voice grew shaky but I didn’t stop.

“At the hospital, I met my mother-in-law. Later, I saw another woman being brought into the ER, the one who was with my husband. I recognized her as the woman Nathan had been seeing,”.

Detective Miller nodded, jotting down a few notes.

“And Mrs. Collins, did she admit to putting the powder in the food?”

I paused for a few seconds, then nodded.

“Yes. She said Nathan himself gave her the drug. He instructed her on how to put it in the chowder when I wasn’t looking. The purpose was for me to have a severe allergic reaction, be hospitalized, or worse,”.

The room fell silent.

The young officer stopped writing and looked at me, his expression one of undisguised shock.

“What did Nathan tell his mother?” Detective Miller asked, his voice deepening.

“He said he wanted to divorce me. He had another woman who was pregnant. He said, ‘If I died in an accident, the insurance would pay out and the assets would be left for him and his mother to take care of his child,'”.

Detective Miller let out a long breath.

I saw in his eyes not just the sternness of a lawman but also a hint of human sorrow.

“Do you have any proof of what you’ve just told us?”

I nodded.

“I have a video from the security camera outside my apartment door. It recorded the entire act of Betty putting the powder into the container. I also kept the unused portion of the chowder, which I’m sure still has traces of the substance,”.

The young officer immediately wrote this down.

Detective Miller looked at me for a long time before speaking slowly.

“Miss Collins, your testimony is crucial, but you need to prepare yourself. This is no longer just an accident. It could become a criminal homicide case,”.

I gave a bitter smile.

“Detective, from the moment I smelled that powder, I was prepared. If I hadn’t been alert, the person dead right now would be me,”.

The door opened and a nurse came in, speaking quietly to Detective Miller.

I couldn’t hear what she said, but I saw his brow furrow slightly before he nodded.

“Miss Collins, we need you to sign this preliminary statement. We will also be taking Mrs. Collins into custody for questioning,”.

My heart sank a little.

Even though I was prepared, hearing it confirmed was still heavy.

“My mother-in-law… how is she?” I asked.

“She’s in an agitated state but coherent enough to be questioned,”.

I nodded.

I signed my name on the paper, each stroke of the pen feeling like another cut, severing a relationship that had long been rotten.

When I walked out of the room, Betty was sitting on a bench in the hallway, her face in her hands.

She looked up when she saw me, her eyes filled with panic.

“Laura, what did you tell them?” she asked, her voice trembling.

I stood before her.

In this moment, I was no longer the submissive daughter-in-law nor the vengeful woman.

I was simply a person telling the truth.

“I told them exactly what happened,” I replied.

“Nothing more, nothing less,”.

Betty broke down, her sobs like those of a child.

“I didn’t want to kill anyone. I just wanted a grandchild, Laura,”.

I looked at her, my heart aching as if squeezed.

I remembered the early days of my marriage when I cooked her meals and called her mom with genuine affection.

But none of that could erase the fact that she had raised her hand to harm me.

“Betty,” I said quietly.

“Some mistakes can’t be undone with the excuse of not meaning to,”.

Two police officers approached.

They spoke clearly and firmly, asking Betty to come with them for questioning.

Betty looked at me one last time, her gaze a mixture of resentment, fear, and regret.

I didn’t look away.

I looked straight back as if watching the final chapter of an old life close.

As they led her away, the hospital corridor felt strangely empty.

I stood there alone, surrounded by the smell of antiseptic and cold lights.

My husband was dead.

My mother-in-law was in custody.

The other woman… I had overheard a doctor say didn’t make it.

Neither did the baby.

Three lives, one night.

I sat down on a chair, my back against the wall.

Only then did the tears fall.

Not for Nathan, not really for Betty, but for myself.

For five years of marriage that turned out to be nothing more than a chess game where I was the most foolish pawn.