Chapter 2
“I need testing before I’m sure.”
“Prescription?”
“No bottle nearby.”
“Could she have taken it voluntarily?”
“Possible.”
“You don’t think so.”
Michael looked through the doorway.
Claire had briefly stirred while I was talking to Daniel.
“When she woke for a few seconds, she asked why she felt heavy. I asked if she took anything to sleep.”
“And?”
“She said no.”
I stared at him.
“So someone drugged her.”
“I did not say that.”
“You were about to.”
“No, Adrian. I was about to say we don’t know.”
“You know me well enough to understand I dislike that sentence.”
“I know you well enough to understand uncertainty makes you start issuing orders.”
“I already issued orders.”
“I noticed. You locked a twenty-acre estate in thirty seconds.”
“Precaution.”
“That was Adrian Moretti wearing precaution’s coat.”
I ignored him.
“Take her to the hospital.”
“I will.”
“No sirens.”
“Obviously.”
“And keep it private.”
Michael’s eyes hardened.
“I’ll keep it private only as long as privacy is good for Claire.”
That irritated me.
Which usually meant Michael was correct.
“Fine.”
Behind us, Lily appeared again.
“Is Mommy dying?”
Michael immediately crouched.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
She lifted Honey, her battered rabbit.
“Can Mommy have him?”
“I think your rabbit is excellent medicine.”
Lily started toward the bed, stopped, then hugged Honey again.
“No. Mommy says I lose him.”
Mrs. Alvarez extended her hand.
“Come with me. We will make toast.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Then I will make toast and you can explain why mine is better than yours.”
Lily considered this arrangement.
Before leaving, she turned to me.
“Mr. Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“You won’t let the bad man come here?”
There were many answers the man I had been ten years earlier might have given.
Some involved threats.
Some involved Victor Kane never setting foot anywhere again.
Instead I said, “You’re safe tonight.”
She studied me with the unsettling seriousness children sometimes used when adults lied.
Then she nodded.
May you like
After she disappeared, I called Daniel.
“What did you find?”
