My milk shake.
Chapter Twenty-One
“You shouldn’t have done this,” Harper said. “Not tonight, not after what happened with Nick.”
I’d spent nearly all afternoon with Nick in the emergency department as he received treatment—from the doctors at the hospital and from Dennis. It was a miracle that Nick had suffered no permanent damage. After receiving two bags of IV fluids, he’d been released. I’d been checked, too, but had sipped so little of the drink that I hadn’t been affected aside from a little extra nausea.
Mimi hadn’t left Nick’s side from the moment he’d walked in the door at home until we’d arrived here tonight, and even then it had taken some doing to separate the pair. It was understandable. Mimi had already lost one parent—I couldn’t imagine her pain if she’d lost Nick, too.
A sudden vision of him laid out on the foyer floor made me break into a cold sweat. I couldn’t imagine my pain if I’d lost him, either.
There’d been such a small window of time for someone to have tampered with the shake. It had tasted fine when Ula had first given it to me, but then it’d been sickly sweet at the picnic table. I had left it unattended only while I paid for lunch and chased after Carolyn.
Who, though? Who had done it?
I tried to keep my voice light as I said, “It’s because of what happened this afternoon, Harper, that it’s important to celebrate life. What’s a better way to do that than with a birthday party?”
The police had conducted a field test on the contents of the cup. There had, in fact, been antifreeze in the drink, as Cherise had declared. Enough to have been lethal if all of it had been ingested. I knew without a doubt I’d never order the drink again. Just the thought of bananas made me queasy.
Police detectives had questioned everyone who’d been at the Stove, including all the staff, Sylar, and Carolyn Honeycutt. Everyone had denied seeing anything. It was beyond frustrating.
Sylar, however, had admitted during his questioning that last Friday night a drunken Dorothy had accused him of poisoning her. He thought she’d just been lashing out at him. Acting crazy. Talking crazier.
Verbal vomit.
He claimed he’d taken her home, left her on the doorstep, and that was the last time he’d seen her. The police had released him because there hadn’t been enough evidence to prove he’d done anything wrong.
Yet.
My mind, however, couldn’t stop thinking about Carolyn digging in her purse while I paid my lunch bill. According to Sylar, she’d been paying his bar tab. But what if she’d had a flask of antifreeze in her purse that she’d somehow poured into my drink?
I couldn’t imagine that Sylar, Stef, or Ula wouldn’t have noticed it happening, though. And, unfortunately, the Stove didn’t have indoor security cameras.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Harper asked, giving me a nudge with her elbow.
“I will be,” I said with a wan smile.
There was no point in thinking of the could-have-beens. Everything was okay. We were all fine.
I looked across Ve’s kitchen at Nick, and he smiled. I’d begged him to stay home to rest, but he wasn’t having it. He’d insisted on attending Harper’s surprise party, and I didn’t doubt he’d go to work tomorrow. I’d already made plans to meet up with Glinda bright and early tomorrow morning.
Someone had taken this case to a whole new level by trying to kill me, and it was more imperative than ever to figure out who—before they tried to do it again.
Harper put her arm around me. “While celebrating life is all well and good, I’m sure I mentioned no big to-dos. Remember?”
I pushed cake around my plate and watched Nick and Pepe playing chess at the counter, with Mrs. P and Andreus standing by to give pointers to both. I said, “This is just a wee little to-do. Tiny. Miniscule.”
“Don’t make me take your thesaurus away.”
“It’s actually your thesaurus. I borrowed it and never gave it back.”
She laughed, and it was like music to my ears. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring to her world, but for right now, she was happy.
“Thanks for doing this,” she said. “It’s a lovely miniscule family party.”
I heard Starla’s laughter echo from the family room, closely followed by Ve’s, Evan’s, and Mimi’s. Missy barked, as though joining in on the joke.
Family. I’d never been so certain that it was love that created a family, plain and simple.
I felt a surge of emotion and blinked back sudden tears. I nodded. “It is lovely.”
Harper glanced across the room. “I should probably go rescue Marcus. I think Archie is practicing soliloquies on him. I blame this on the Chadwicks, by the way.”
The Chadwick family ran the local Shakespearian society and had asked Archie to be part of their big fan festival this coming August. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Terry and Cherise put the Chadwicks up to it.”
“I don’t blame them if they did. If anyone needs a break from his chattering, it’s them.” She suddenly flinched. “Is Archie reciting lines from Macbeth? He couldn’t have picked a more cheerful play?”
“I’d say he’s actually bellowing more than reciting.”
Archie’s wings were flying out this way and that. Marcus sent a pleading gaze our way, his light-green eyes pained. Tilda sat on the third step of the stairs, looking like she’d had more than enough of Archie’s theatrics as well. Her tail swished menacingly as her blue eyes sized him up.
I said, “You best hurry. You know how Archie gets when he’s acting the ‘Out, damned spot’ scene. Marcus might become collateral damage.”
“Oh geez.” She flew across the kitchen, her belly leading the way. “Archie! Don’t you think it’s time for some karaoke?”
I groaned, thinking I’d rather listen to his soliloquies than his singing.
Heaven help us.
“Splendid idea!” Archie cried. “Pepe, my good man, fire up the karaoke machine.”
Tilda climbed back up the steps, resuming her favorite spot at the top of the stairs.
“One moment, my feathered friend,” Pepe said. “I’m about to trounce Nick but good. For the third time. Ha-ha!”
“Now you’re just bragging,” Mrs. P said, wagging a finger.
Pepe laughed. “Oui! I never win—let me revel for a moment.”
Nick caught my gaze and winked. I had the feeling he’d thrown at least one of those games. Maybe two. Or all three.
Smiling, I gave up all pretense of eating and set my plate on the counter.
Cherise sidled up beside me. “Not hungry?”
I shook my head.
Her blue eyes shined and she patted my hand. “It’ll pass.”
I bit my lip. “Thanks for staying with us at the hospital, and for being such a good listener.” She’d let me cry on her shoulder all afternoon. Sharing the weight of my burdens had been just the therapy I’d needed.
“I’m glad I was there for you.” She winked. “Always remember, Darcy, the fates are in control.”
I knew, deep down, that she was speaking of more than Nick’s poisoning.
Secrets.
Speaking of secrets … “Where’d you say Terry was tonight?”
Both he and Godfrey were suspiciously absent.
“Oh, you know Terry,” she said vaguely. I arched an eyebrow, but before I could question her, she quickly added, “Has Dorothy’s blood test for antifreeze come back yet?”
As I mentally added Terry Goodwin to my list of Coven members, I said, “There’s no rapid blood test for ethylene glycol—the main component of antifreeze—so it had to be sent away. Results take twenty-four hours. Other tests, however, showed that her kidneys are failing, so she’s being given dialysis.”
We were all working on the assumption that Dorothy had been poisoned. All her symptoms fit with long-term exposure to antifreeze. I considered it a miracle that she’d consented to the blood workup at all. Leyna’s reading must have been
weighing on her mind.
“That makes sense,” Cherise said. “If we find that Dorothy’s been systematically poisoned—a little at a time, over a period of months—organ failure was only a matter of time. It would also explain her increasingly bizarre behavior, especially if it was antifreeze used. It can cause severe neurological damage.”
“She looked so frail and weak the last time I saw her. I can’t imagine that she would have survived it much longer.” Which explained the dark energy Leyna had seen. No wonder she had felt compelled to intervene. I said, “What I don’t understand is, why not give her one big dose and be done with it? I know if I was intent on killing her, I’d want it to be done as quickly as possible.”
Cherise said, “But that would raise questions, would it not? A person in failing health who passes away isn’t nearly as suspicious as a perfectly healthy woman dying suddenly. The bigger question to me is, who is doing the poisoning?” She narrowed her gaze. “Sylar has to be at the top of the list, since he was also at the Stove today and had access to your drink. Perhaps he doesn’t want to give Dorothy half of his money.”
I knew he didn’t—Glinda had said so the other day.
“And,” Andreus said, joining the conversation, “Sylar did say he wanted to move out of town as soon as possible.”
Nick stepped up beside me, his arm resting against mine. His warmth was reassuring, and I leaned into him as I glanced at the counter—the chess game had been cleared away. I’d been so wrapped up in thoughts of Dorothy that I hadn’t noticed what was going on around me.
“Yet, how does all this poisoning relate to Leyna’s death?” Andreus asked. “There must be a link, if Darcy’s questions have someone rattled enough to make an attempt on her life with the same method used on Dorothy.”
Nick’s arm went around me protectively. “All we know is that there’s a link between the poisonings. Darcy’s been asking a lot of questions about Dorothy during her investigation into Leyna’s death, but the cases might not be connected in any way except through Dorothy.”
Still, I couldn’t help feeling they were connected. Despite that notion, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how.
For Leyna’s murder, my suspects were Dorothy, Feif, and Carolyn.
For Dorothy’s poisoning, my main suspect was Sylar.
Sylar had no tie to Leyna.
Feif and Carolyn had no ties to Dorothy.
Obviously, I was missing something big. I had to look harder, because I was never going to give up on finding the truth. Not after what happened today.
“There’s still been no sign of this Feif fellow?” Andreus asked. “People rarely vanish without a trace.”
“There’s been no sightings anywhere after his visit to the Stove this morning,” Nick said. “His credit cards haven’t been used, and his bank accounts are untouched. His cell phone locater has been deactivated. We’ve checked all the bus and train stations. Checked with all the private car companies. If he left the village, he did it on foot.”
What I couldn’t understand was, if Feif was innocent—and it was looking like he was—why had he run?
Cherise suddenly perked up when the music changed. “Oh! Is that a Neil Diamond song they’re singing? You all will have to speculate without me for a few minutes.”
Strains of “I Am … I Said” floated into the kitchen. It sounded as though Evan and Archie were singing it as a duet. Who’d known Cherise was such a big Neil Diamond fan? I hoped she had just as much adoration for Elvis, for Terry’s sake.
“I’m in need of more wine,” Ve said as she came rushing into the kitchen, stepping aside to let Cherise pass.
“But seriously,” Harper said, hot on Ve’s heels. “You have to know at least one of the past Elders. Surely they’re not bound by the same secrecy laws. I need names, Aunt Ve.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “The Renewal is tomorrow, lest you forget.”
“Lest?” I echoed.
“Don’t judge me,” Harper said.
“Oh, there’s no forgetting,” Ve said. “Trust me on that, dear.”
“What’s that mean?” Harper asked. “Do you know something?”
“I know I need more wine. Lots more wine.” Ve mouthed “help me” to Nick, Andreus, and me as she ducked low to pull a bottle from the wine fridge.
I searched my brain for anything to change the topic of conversation, and suddenly remembered that I wanted to ask Andreus about the stone that had flown out of my tote bag. It was the perfect thing to distract Harper. I clapped my hands twice, and the blue rock appeared in my palm. “Andreus, did you give this to me when I wasn’t looking?”
Andreus glanced at my hand and picked up the stone. “This didn’t come from me.”
“What is that? What have you got there?” Harper asked, edging closer.
Behind her back, Ve mouthed “thank you” and scurried back into the family room, her wine glass so full it was almost overflowing. She left the bottle open on the counter—for easy refills, I assumed.
“Not even the chair!” Evan warbled in the background.
I winced. I’d known karaoke was a bad idea.
Andreus turned the stone round and round with his fingers. “Where did you get this, Darcy?”
I said, “I don’t know. It fell out of my bag this morning. It didn’t seem like any old rock.”
“It’s not,” he said, concern in his tone. “I believe this is the Tilsam Stone.”
“What’s that?” Nick asked.
“It’s rare, quite rare. It’s a black-magic rune.”
“A real rune?” Harper asked, holding out her hand. “Did you know rune literally means holding secrets?”
Andreus smiled as he set the stone in her palm. “Its secret is that this stone is a powerful white magic talisman. It protects from black magic. It’s highly valuable, Darcy.”
In my head, I could suddenly hear Vince’s voice.
There’s one talisman in particular that will protect a single person.
The moment I associated the stone with Vince, I knew why the stone had seemed familiar to me. I’d seen it while at his apartment the other day. It had been one of the rocks in the candle holder. He must have slipped it into my bag on my way out the door.
And I’d have bet my last frozen peppermint patty that he hadn’t just heard of that stone in a little hole-in-the-wall shop in New Orleans, but had bought it there. “I think it was Vince who gave it to me,” I said, and explained why.
“A valuable gift,” Andreus said.
It was just like Vince not to just tell me he was doing something nice. Darkness and light.
I wished with all my might that he’d find his light soon.
Harper handed the stone back to me. “He must think you need protection from black magic.” She took a big step back, away from me.
Nick said, “Why wouldn’t Vince just give it to you instead of sneaking it into your bag?”
I was about to say something about Vince’s wild-card personality when Andreus spoke up.
“I can answer that,” he said. “The power the stone holds is nullified if its secret is exposed to the recipient by its giver. If Vince told you why he was giving you the stone, the stone wouldn’t protect you.”
Secrets.
I wasn’t the only one who was keeping them.
“Is it invalidated now?” Harper asked. “Since we all know what it is?”
“No,” Andreus said. “Because it wasn’t Vince who revealed its secret. Its powers remain intact. Take great care with it, Darcy. There must be a good reason he gave it to you.”
Rage and hatred.
I closed my hand over the stone. “I know he gave it to me, but can I give it to Harper?” In my mind, Harper needed it more than I did. If I could have wrapped her in a bubble for the rest of her days, I would.
She pressed her hands to her chest. “Me? Why?”
“A birthday gift?” I gave her a cheesy smile.
“No thanks. I don’t want it,” s
he said. “If Vince wanted me to have it, then he would have slipped it into my bag. Since he gave it to you, Darcy, he must think you’re in danger. And you are, obviously, since someone tried to poison you today.”
Harper probably wanted a bubble for me, too.
“Okay, then, I’ll keep it. For now.” Not wanting to think too hard about any danger I was in, I tossed the stone into the air, and it disappeared.
“Maybe you should sleep with that thing under your pillow, Darcy,” Harper suggested. She glanced behind her. “Hey, where’d Ve go?”
“Let’s go find her, shall we?” Andreus asked as he put an arm around her shoulders. “Do you think I can convince her to sing ‘Islands in the Stream’ with me?”
Harper led the way down the hallway. “Definitely, especially since she’s had so much wine. But I still want to ask her about the Elders …”
Nick cupped my face with his hands. His warm gaze nearly undid me. “It’ll be okay, Darcy.”
I fought tears. “I’m protected, but what about everyone else? Harper and Mimi and you. Everyone.” My breath hitched.
I didn’t know what was going on with the poisonings or with Leyna’s death, but I knew Dorothy’s stance on the Renewal quite well. Sick or not, she wasn’t going down without a fight. A bitter one.
“We need to have faith that we’ll figure it out.”
I rested my head on his shoulder and tried to relax. It was futile. I was tight with tension from head to toe. I wanted to have faith, but I was struggling.
Behind me, I heard Ve say, “There’s not enough wine in the world.”
“Come on. One name of a past Elder. One,” Harper said, dogging her every move.
Ve grabbed the wine bottle and took a deep breath as she poured. “I don’t know. There might have been a Mathildie at one point.”
“Ooh, that’s good. Last name?” Harper said, practically bouncing with excitement.
“Wait. Did you say Mathildie?” I asked.
“Don’t you start on me, too,” Ve said, grabbing the bottle and striding back to the family room.
Harper grinned at me. “If I can keep her drinking, I might have the names of all previous Elders by midnight.” She raced after Ve. “It would really help if I could get a last name, Aunt Ve. Did you know it’s my birthday tomorrow?”
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