Tea or Consequences

by KC Burn

  “I’ll be fine. Home is… too quiet right now, but I may take off early. Start the weekend sooner rather than later. You ought to leave too. Don’t think I don’t know that this has been hard for you too.”

  “Compared to what you and François and Floriana are going through, it’s been nothing. I’m just glad I could help.”

  Riley slipped out of Cody’s office and closed the door behind him. If Cody wasn’t going to take the day off, Riley would at least make sure he wasn’t disturbed, and maybe Cody would take advantage of the quiet to catch a couple of winks.

  At his desk, Riley read the back of the gift set, which explained the purpose of each item and how best to use it. A quick snap of his wrist with the letter opener broke through the clear round seal on the box.

  He pulled out the inner plastic container and frowned. First off, this particular style of presenting a gift set seemed rather old-fashioned. That might actually be Gabrielle’s influence. But it made for a lot of unnecessary packaging, not all of it environmentally friendly, and created extra garbage.

  After pulling out the notebook where he’d started jotting comparisons of the different event invoices, he flipped to a new page and started making notes.

  The packaging of each individual product was, however, pleasing to the touch and had a nice heft to it. Just holding it almost felt decadent, and for top-level products like this, decadence was part of the experience. Cheap plastic and readily visible seams didn’t say what Gautier wanted. Changing the name or color scheme of the outer box might be helpful from a rebranding perspective, but he didn’t think the bottles and jars should change. He even liked the abstract leaf shape of everything.

  All the paper he touched every day and the lingering effects of Toronto’s cold, dry winter meant his skin got dry. Also, he’d been washing his hands a little more obsessively since his first encounter with fingerprint powder. No time like the present.

  There wasn’t any hand cream in the gift box, so he chose the small tub of body cream, opened it, and sniffed. The cream had a fresh herb-and-mint scent that managed to smell invigorating. Since the added boost of caffeine was intended to be exactly that, Riley could only applaud Floriana’s team. He added a quick note about choosing color schemes that would make the product more gender-neutral, because the scent wouldn’t need to change to appeal to both men and women.

  He scooped out a dollop and rubbed it well into his hands. It was smooth, creamy, and absorbed instantly. Riley smiled. This might be one of the easiest tasks he’d ever undertaken.

  Another scent began to overtake the fresh herbal scent of Invigorate. Garlic? Who the hell would be eating something so garlicky first thing in the morning?

  As he craned his head around, trying to find the source of the smell, one pointed memory came back. One that he had dismissed as absolutely nothing at the time. A few minutes before she died, Gabrielle had complained of the scent of garlic. And she’d probably retreated to her office because she’d started feeling badly, perhaps not knowing why. Not making the connection between her symptoms and her allergy, because why would she? It wasn’t easy to accidentally come in contact with penicillin.

  Riley’s heart started racing and his mouth dried out. It could be fear, or it could be the onset of… something. Not penicillin, because he wasn’t allergic, but the garlic scent was too specific to ignore. He ran for the executive bathroom, only a few feet away from his new desk, and furiously washed his hands, but the garlic odor didn’t abate. Hands still damp, he rushed back to his desk.

  With a shaking hand, he grabbed his phone and called Tad.

  “Morning, Riley. We’re actually on our way over—finally got one of the warrants we were waiting for.”

  “I think I’ve been poisoned,” Riley whispered into the phone.

  “What? Are you at work? I’m on my way. What are your symptoms?”

  His eyes started burning. He didn’t want to die. “Only the smell of garlic. So far.” He thought. He wasn’t sure if the other symptoms were incipient panic.

  “Garlic? I… don’t understand.”

  Tad’s voice got quieter, and Riley assumed he’d turned away or covered his phone with his hand. “Emma, get Medical over to Gautier Cosmetics. Possible poison.

  “Okay, Riley. Tell me what’s going on. Why is garlic important?”

  “I don’t know.” Riley almost wailed, but he didn’t want Cody to hear him. Cody had given him the cream. “But Cody asked me to test out a new cream, and as soon as I did, I started to smell garlic, and then I remembered that was the last thing Gabrielle said before she left the party. The caterers had used too much garlic.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck. And you’re definitely not allergic to penicillin.”

  Riley wondered if that meant Tad didn’t know what he’d been poisoned with either. Tad had told him the coroner suspected Gabrielle hadn’t ingested the penicillin, it was likely a contact issue, but maybe the penicillin had been incidental and whatever was causing the garlic smell was the true murder weapon.

  “Tad, I’m scared.”

  “Hey, hey. I’m here, Riley. I’m here. I’ll stay on the line. We’re almost there. Don’t do anything.”

  Riley waited, letting Tad’s comforting tone wash over him, although he couldn’t focus enough to listen.

  After what seemed like an eternity, feet pounded right to him. He had a moment to be thankful he’d already told Tad about his move in location, because otherwise Tad might have had to look for him.

  Tad crouched in front of him, face pale, and grabbed for his hands, but Riley pulled them back. “It had to be in the lotion.”

  “Are you sure?” Tad narrowed his eyes, taking in the array of small bottles on the desk, including the open jar. Emma snapped on a pair of gloves and started bagging bottles into evidence bags.

  “Sure.” Was a heart supposed to beat this fast? “Running late this morning. Bought a latte from my regular place. But that’s it.”

  “We’re going to wash your hands while we wait for the EMTs. They were only a few minutes behind.”

  Riley didn’t bother to say what they were both thinking. Without knowing what poison he’d been given, the hope of getting correct treatment wasn’t good. Tad pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket and put them on. “If nothing else, we can minimize contaminating anyone else.”

  “I already did that,” Riley rasped. “But… the executive bathroom. I touched things in there.”

  Tad pulled out another pair of gloves and helped Riley slip them on.

  “We’ll make sure no one goes in there.” Emma nodded, apparently half listening to him and half listening to a radio, before saying something into it that Riley didn’t have the energy to try to decipher.

  Tad squeezed Riley’s gloved hand in his. It wasn’t the same as skin to skin, but the heat and strength in Tad’s grip was enough for him to cling to for now. “And you said Cody gave this to you?”

  Riley nodded, afraid if he spoke he’d throw up.

  “Where is he now?”

  Riley pointed to the office. Tad’s expression darkened, and he stood and slammed the door open. Cody squawked as Tad dragged him out. Cody’s eyes were heavy and his hair was in disarray.

  “What the fuck did you give him?”

  Cody flicked his gaze nervously between Tad and Riley. “I don’t understand.”

  “What. Did. You. Put. In. The. Cream.” Tad shoved Cody up against the wall, his voice modulated and harsh but not loud. Riley had never seen Tad angry and intimidating. He was good at it, and Riley would be fucking impressed if it didn’t feel like his heart was going to explode.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Riley almost let out a nervous burst of laughter. Tad might have actually woken Cody up. He couldn’t believe Cody would do that to him.

  “What poison did you put in that cream?” Tad pointed at the desk, and Cody paled.

  “Nothing, I swear. Riley, are you okay?” Cody tried to approach, but T
ad still had ahold of his shirt.

  “No,” Riley whispered. “I don’t think I am.”

  “Cody Rosenberg, you’re under arrest for attempted murder.”

  Cody’s face whitened even further, stark against his crimson dress shirt. “No! I didn’t. I swear. Floriana gave me the cream. I was the one who was supposed to test this. Not Riley. Whatever is going on, it was supposed to be me.” He sagged in Tad’s grip and turned pleading eyes on Riley. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

  “Riley, can you verify that?” Tad snapped.

  “He said it was her idea to rebrand. I don’t know if she brought the cream, but I wasn’t at my desk much yesterday.” It was believable, though. Riley might have done some gentle poking and prodding, but Cody was the one who’d thrown a wrench in the whole inheritance machine. If Cody wasn’t the murderer, it was perfectly reasonable that the poison had indeed been meant for him.

  Four uniformed officers headed in at a run.

  Detective Wilson instructed one uniformed officer to guard the bathroom and not to let anyone touch anything. Tad told two others to bring Floriana Gautier in for questioning. Cody offered his access card, and they pounded toward the lab.

  “Let me send that cream to the lab.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Tad growled. “That’s evidence.”

  Cody wrenched himself out of Tad’s grip. “And if you want to save Riley’s life, you’ll let me help. We’re almost standing in a world-class laboratory, with topflight chemists. You’re a fool if you don’t take advantage of that. How long will you wait for a criminal lab to do the work?”

  “Where the fuck are the EMTs?” Tad huffed, but he turned to look at Detective Wilson, who gave him a quick nod. “Make the call, Cody.”

  Cody lunged for Riley’s phone, but Tad put his arm out, fast, like a striking snake, preventing Cody from touching the phone. He handed Cody a pair of gloves. “Just in case. And put the phone on speaker.”

  Looking utterly freaked, Cody nodded and dialed an internal extension.

  “Trix Henderson speaking.”

  “Trix, it’s Cody. I need you up at my office immediately. Bring a sterile sample bottle.”

  “Be right there.”

  “It’s an emergency. Run.” Trix let out a little gasp, and there was a clatter before the line disconnected.

  Tad moved back to Riley and grasped his hands again. “Try to breathe, slow and deep and even.”

  Riley tried to mimic Tad, hoping to slow his racing heart and counteract the light-headedness, but so far to no avail.

  His sense of time was all messed up, because before he knew it, Trix was there, snapping on a pair of her own gloves.

  “Riley, what’s going on?”

  A pair of EMTs showed up before anyone could answer her, with Alisha behind them.

  That was enough to garner the attention of the entire office. Tad barked a command for everyone to stay back.

  “Riley, oh my God, Riley, what happened?” Alisha sounded distraught, but the EMTs were already checking him out, and he didn’t have the strength to reassure her.

  EMT Number One, a large black man, squatted in front of him as Tad moved out of the way, glancing curiously at his gloved hands. “It’s fine. You’re going to be fine. But I need to know what you took.”

  Tad spoke up before Riley could. “Contact poison in hand cream. We don’t know what it is.”

  Riley didn’t need anyone to interpret the look in EMT Number One’s eyes. “Symptoms?”

  Tad stepped in again and even mentioned the garlic scent, but it was obvious that no light bulb was pinging for the EMTs. EMT Number Two, a slender auburn-haired woman, was on her radio, asking someone to run a check on the symptoms.

  “Did you say garlic?” Trix asked. Everyone turned their attention to her.

  “Yes.” Tad spat out the word.

  “Oh shit.”

  “What is it?”

  Trix waved a hand. “It’s not a poison itself. It’s a way to allow a chemical to cross the dermal layer. Called DMSO. Dimethyl sulfoxide. There’s a possibility of using it for cancer drugs, and we tested with it initially for this product, but aside from a few other issues, we couldn’t get around the garlic scent as a side effect. The DMSO is probably acting as a way to get whatever it is into his bloodstream faster.”

  “Then what was he poisoned with?” Tad sounded more desperate than Riley would have thought, but at least he was no longer expected to talk.

  “I don’t know.”

  Cody stepped in. “Can you test it now? Fast?”

  Trix looked unsure, but her voice was steady when she replied. “I’ll do my best.”

  She opened a specimen bottle and stepped toward the small pile of evidence bags on Riley’s desk, but Detective Wilson stopped her. The detective opened the bag with the body cream, took the specimen bottle from Trix, and poured about half of the cream inside. She then returned the original packaging and cream to the evidence bag and handed the specimen bottle to Trix.

  Detective Wilson pointed at the remaining uniformed officer. “Go with her. Report to me as soon as you know anything.” The officer nodded, and the two of them disappeared.

  EMT Number One held Riley’s gaze. “Until we know exactly what to treat, we’re going to focus on symptoms as we get you to the hospital. Right now, the most aggressive issues are cardiac-related, so we’re going to deal with those first.” He readied a syringe. “I’ve got something here to help you relax.”

  In seconds, chemicals forced a relaxation on Riley, despite an awareness that his symptoms had not abated.

  A third EMT rattled up with a gurney, and during the process of lifting Riley onto it, blackness overcame him.

  Chapter ELEVEN

  RILEY BLINKED awake. Everything was stiff, sore, and his mouth was as dry as British humor. His eyes slowly focused, hospital monitors coming into view.

  Another few moments and he remembered being poisoned. He tried to sit up but groaned as his head swam.

  “Hey. It’s okay. Relax.” Tad leaned over him with a tender smile and this time held his hand while neither of them was wearing gloves.

  “Tadeo?” Wait. He wasn’t supposed to use Tad’s full name for some reason. Judging from Tad’s smile, he didn’t seem to mind. “Are you really here?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Can I have some water?”

  Tad grabbed a cup with a bendy straw. “Here. Drink slowly, just in case.”

  The cool water flowed like a miracle across his parched tongue.

  “Am I okay? What time is it?” It had been a few minutes after nine when he’d called Tad. He had no idea how long he’d been out. Tad looked tired; maybe he’d been working late. Or maybe Riley just hadn’t noticed details like that while he was in the middle of being poisoned.

  “You’re fine. Now, anyway. Trix was able to figure out pretty fast that the amount of caffeine in the cream was well above safe levels, and mixed in with that chemical, DMSO, to increase its absorption. Once they knew what to look for, our lab was able to confirm. Which makes a lot of sense, since we’d already determined that Gabrielle hadn’t ingested the penicillin.”

  “But I’m fine now?”

  Tad pressed his lips together and glanced away, but his grip on Riley’s hand tightened. “It was touch and go for a while. It’s Saturday afternoon and they just moved you out of Intensive Care.”

  Saturday afternoon? He’d lost more than a whole day. He didn’t know what to think about that. Nor did he know why Tad was at his bedside, but he wasn’t going to knock it.

  “What happened after I passed out?”

  The grim smile Tad wore promised retribution, but somehow Riley knew Tad meant to protect him from anything bad. How he knew that, he had no idea.

  “We arrested Floriana for murder and attempted murder.”

  “Oh my God. I can’t believe she was behind it all. All for a stake in her mother’s company. I guess Cody’s secret marriage was the rea
son Cody was a target.”

  Tad nodded. “Looks like. She’s not talking, and her lawyer will probably have her out on bail by tomorrow, but yeah. That’s what we think.”

  Imagine having all that expertise in chemistry and using it to kill. She was such an angry woman, but Riley never would have imagined her grief was false. Showed what he knew about murderers.

  It was a relief, though, knowing it was all over.

  Tad stroked the hair away from Riley’s face. “So, you called me Tadeo when you woke up.”

  Under the unflinching fluorescent hospital lighting, there was no hiding his blush. Tad smiled widely and cupped Riley’s face. “I knew you remembered me.”

  “How could I forget….” Riley sat up. “Wait. What do you mean, you knew I remembered you? I… you… you mean you remember me?” Riley’s voice cracked as incredulity sent his voice into an unaccustomed high register.

  “Yeah. I do. Nosy Parker, alive and well.”

  Riley swatted Tad away, but he just grabbed Riley’s hand instead, holding it tight, but like a lover, not like a cop restraining a suspect.

  “Fucking hell. How? When? You never even knew I was alive in high school.”

  Some of Tad’s mirth disappeared, replaced by an intense stare. “I knew you were alive. I was so fucking impressed by the way you never hid, never lied about who you were. True, I didn’t know who you were until that last year. And maybe if Lisa hadn’t hurt herself, had been able to continue on as head cheerleader senior year, maybe I wouldn’t have known. But when she needed another extracurricular activity for university and dragged all of us into the drama department, well, I think we all sort of realized we were invading your turf. And you never backed down. Never let us push the hard-core drama people out. Never let anyone intimidate you.”

  Riley frowned. “And you never stopped your friends from trying to intimidate me.”

  “I will regret that for as long as I live. I wasn’t as brave as you were in high school. If I were, I would have admitted then what I didn’t until I got to university.”

  “Admit what?” Riley asked, a dark suspicion blooming in his chest.