Friday morning, Maya’s phone rang at 8:47 AM. Detective Chen’s name on the screen made her stomach drop.
“Hello?”
“Maya, it’s Detective Chen. We need you to come down to the station today.”
Maya sat up in bed. She’d barely slept, again. “Why? Did you find something?”
“We just need to talk to you. Can you be here by eleven?”
“What’s this about?”
There was a pause. “We’d like you to take a polygraph test.”
Maya’s blood went cold. “A lie detector test?”
“It’s voluntary. But it would help us rule you out as a suspect and focus our investigation elsewhere.”
“Rule me out?” Maya’s voice rose. “I’m a suspect?”
“Everyone close to the case is being asked to take one,” Chen said, her tone carefully neutral. “It’s standard procedure.”
“Who else is taking one? Did you ask the hospital staff?
