The Riddle in the Medicine Cabinet

Elena's husband Marcus started taking B-complex vitamins in November. By February, he was up to six supplements a day, his skin growing sallow despite the supposed nutrition. The marriage counselor suggested date nights.

Instead, Marcus disappeared at 10 PM each Tuesday. He called it "walking meetings" with his new pharmaceutical client, Sphinx Biotech.

Elena's cross-eyed cat, Apollo, began waiting by the door those same nights, meowing at the hallway where Marcus kept his briefcase. One Tuesday in March, Elena opened that briefcase after Marcus's walking meeting. Inside: no vitamins. Only a burner phone, a camera lens the size of a vitamin capsule, and documents stamped with the Sphinx logo—except the logo was wrong, a competitor's watermark ghosted beneath.

Apollo pawed at her ankle, purring.

The burner phone lit up with a message: "Extract complete. Same time next week?"

Elena had suspected an affair. That would have been simpler.

Marcus wasn't taking vitamins. He wasn't walking. He was a corporate spy, photographing proprietary research for a competitor.

She put everything back exactly as she'd found it.

When Marcus returned at midnight, smelling of cold air and peppermint, Elena asked if he wanted tea. He hesitated—the spy assessing threats—then smiled wearily.

"Please," he said.

Apollo jumped onto Marcus's lap. The cat didn't care about espionage, only that his human was home.

Elena watched them both and wondered: was the vitamin deficiency real, or just another layer of the lie? Had Marcus manufactured the fatigue, the paleness, the supposed need for supplements to justify his absences?

She stirred honey into Marcus's tea and considered the riddle of her marriage: who was the real Sphinx here—him, with his secrets, or her, pretending not to know?

"Your vitamins," she said, sliding the mug toward him. "I noticed you're out."

Marcus met her eyes. For a moment, neither spoke. Then Apollo knocked the spoon off the counter, and the spell broke.

"I'll pick some up tomorrow," Marcus said.

Elena nodded. Tomorrow. One more week of being the one who didn't know.