"That sounds like a lot to keep track of," Barrett said.
"It was," Olivia said."But I'm experienced.I've been a professional caregiver for many years.Medication management is part of the job."
She was steady now, confident in this part of the narrative.Barrett let her have the moment.Confidence made people careless.
Sullivan opened the file folder.
He did it without ceremony, simply lifted the cover and removed a set of printed pages.He arranged them on the table facing Olivia.Barrett watched her eyes drop to the pages and saw the change happen in real time.She paled but did not pick up the pages.She stared at them as though they were something dangerous.
"These are records from Charleston Pharmacy," Sullivan said."I'm showing you the refill histories for Celia Ann Stratton's prescriptions over the final eight months of her life.We've been reviewing them as part of the estate process, and there are a few things we'd like to understand."
Olivia said nothing.
Sullivan pointed to a line near the top of the first page."This is the prescription for blood pressure medication.Based on the prescribed dosage, this bottle should have been refilled every thirty days.But according to these records, the refill wasn't requested for forty-seven days."He moved his finger down the page."This is the same medication, but the next cycle.There were fifty-one days between refills."He looked up at Olivia."The refills weren't requested on time.Can you explain?"
Olivia's hands came together in her lap.Her fingers interlaced and squeezed."I did exactly what I was supposed to do."Her voice was sharper than the question warranted.The defensiveness was immediate and visible.
Sullivan did not react to the tone.He simply waited.
Olivia took a breath and tried again."Celia Ann was confused toward the end.She didn't remember things.Sometimes she would refuse her pills or say she had already taken them when she hadn't."She shook her head."It was difficult to manage.I did my best."
Barrett heard the shift.At her apartment weeks ago, Olivia had described herself as meticulous.She had said she kept careful track of everything.Now she was blaming the patient for confusion and resistance.Both versions of the story could not be true.
"So, Celia Ann sometimes refused her blood pressure medication?"Sullivan said.
"Yes," Olivia said."She could be stubborn."
"But you continued to refill the prescriptions at the pharmacy?"
"Of course.I had to have them available in case she changed her mind.You can't just stop medication."
Sullivan nodded slowly, as though he found the explanation reasonable.Then he turned to a different section of the records."Now, for heart medication, this is an opposite pattern.Based on the prescribed dosage, the refills are coming in ahead of schedule.In some cases, a week early.In one instance, eleven days early."
He looked at Olivia and let the silence hold.
Her neck flushed red.The color started below her collar and moved upward, and Barrett watched it spread with the detached precision of a man reading a target's vital signs.She was losing control of her body's responses, even as she fought to maintain control of her words.
"I don't know," Olivia said."Maybe I miscounted.Or maybe a bottle was dropped and pills were lost.It happens."
"Six times in six months?"Sullivan said.His voice carried no accusation.It was just a question.
"I don't remember the specifics," she said."It was a stressful time.She was declining, and I was doing everything I could."
Sullivan let the answer sit without challenge.He made a note in the margin of the page, a small, deliberate gesture that Olivia tracked with her eyes.The act of writing something down in front of a person who was lying was its own form of pressure, and clearly Sullivan knew it.
Barrett shifted the conversation."What about the doctor's visits in the final months?Dr.Morrison's records show that Celia Ann missed her last three scheduled appointments."
Olivia's arms came up and crossed over her chest."She wasn't feeling well enough to go.The trips exhausted her."
"Did you inform Dr.Morrison of the changes in her condition?"
"I called the office.I told them she was too tired to come in."
"Did Dr.Morrison suggest any changes to the medications based on what you reported?"
"I don't recall."Olivia's voice had gone flat.The performance of grief and feigned competence had fallen away."It was months ago.I can't remember every conversation."
Barrett noted her avoidance of direct eye contact.She was looking at the table, at the pharmacy records she had not touched, or at her own folded arms.She was looking everywhere except at the two men sitting across from her.
