Poison

by Jordyn Redwood

  A horrid smell drifted from the pile. Keelyn turned her head to the side and buried her nose in her coat to keep the wretched odor at bay. She turned back and dug more. The need to know overcame her fright.

  A pale flesh tone appeared, marked with angry purple collections of blood. She brushed the particles away.

  A male hand.

  A left hand with a ring on the fourth finger.

  A husband.

  Keelyn pushed back from the site and wept. Streaks of dirt clung to her face as she wiped her tears. The truth of what all this meant yanked her soul into a well of despair she feared she would never climb out of.

  What Lee had tried to get her to believe was true. Raven was the danger in her life. The one who posed the greatest threat.

  Now she was stuck in some desolate forest with a serial murderer.

  Keelyn froze as she heard footsteps come up the path. She scrambled to her feet and clenched her teeth against the pain. The remnants of the grave clung to her clothes, and she swatted at her legs to clear the dirt. Death clung to her like a lost child.

  “I see you found them.”

  Keelyn’s tongue was full and heavy. Her mind blank at what she should say.

  “Didn’t take you very long.”

  Keelyn closed her eyes, exhaled, and tried to slow the thrum of her heart inside her chest. This was a game she was going to have to survive. She needed her wits about her. If she was ever going to return to Lee and Sophia, she had to pull herself together and start thinking about what her options really were.

  She opened her eyes. “Who are they?”

  Raven neared her. Keelyn felt her mind plead with her to back away as Raven breached her personal space.

  She stood firm.

  “Some of the people who failed us.”

  “How many graves are there?”

  “Not enough. Not everyone.”

  An understanding shone through the mire of confusion that gripped Keelyn since she’d been pulled into Raven’s vehicle. What was the reason for bringing her here? To this place?

  It was to draw Lee. Maybe even Nathan.

  Raven beckoned them to their deaths.

  And Keelyn was the worm at the end of a long, sharp hook.

  But did she want the same for Keelyn?

  “How could you kill them?”

  Raven looked shocked. “What?”

  “How could you murder them?”

  “You think I did this?”

  Keelyn almost toppled over. “How did you know they were here if you didn’t put them here?”

  Raven slapped her hands to her head. “I helped Gavin bury them. He’s the one who killed them.”

  Understanding cleared the haze of Keelyn’s malnourished, injured body. She knew why Raven had fallen prey to Gavin’s enchantment.

  He was the physical representation of what Raven ached for. He had relentlessly pursued her.

  He’d used Raven to get his own revenge on John Samuals.

  Better than murdering her body, Gavin had killed her spirit.

  “Do you know how much trouble you’re in? He’s setting you up to take the fall”—Keelyn spread her arms wide—“for all of this.”

  “I know.”

  Keelyn’s jaw dropped. “You do?”

  “Last night I pieced it together. When you told me Ryan and Clay had died.”

  Faint warmth burned from Keelyn’s heart. A shimmer of hope against the darkness. “Then you can stop all of this right now. You can turn yourself in and confess your side of things. You can put him in jail. You can still be there for Sophia.”

  The words, at first, seemed to pull Raven’s will. And then it came, like death had laid its hand on her soul. A hint of resigned resolution. Of prey trapped in a cage.

  “He won.”

  “Raven, what are you talking about?”

  She fisted her hands and pushed them into her eyes. “You don’t get any of this!”

  Keelyn backed up a few steps. “Tell me.”

  She opened her arms to the sky. “I wanted to hurt them. I was so trapped in this despair, I wanted to hurt everyone who’d left me in that hellhole. For them to feel just a little bit of the pain I did. For them to realize how awful it was and just maybe say they were sorry.”

  “But, Raven—”

  “That’s why I started seeing Gavin. For the depression. I wanted it to go away. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be whole—”

  “Calm down—”

  “That’s what I found in the Bible. It’s what I loved—God pursuing me. God loving me so much he actually died.”

  “Okay—”

  Raven screamed into the forest, a high-pitched wail that silenced every living creature within hearing range. She clawed at her arms.

  “Gavin said the only way to feel better was to make those people feel the pain I did. He said there was a way to do that—to get them to realize what they’d done. He gave me the spider venom to inject but he promised me it wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  “He lied to you.”

  “Now I’m going to die.”

  Keelyn’s mind brewed with confusion. She pressed her fingers into her forehead. “You can still stop this. You can come clean. I’ll help you.”

  “It’s too late! I’m going to finish it. In the beginning, I didn’t want people to die. Now, I don’t care anymore.”

  Keelyn’s body felt heavy, the weight of Raven’s choices like a straight-jacket around her. “I don’t think that’s true.”

  “Nothing can redeem me.”

  Keelyn prayed for wisdom. For a way to help Raven understand there was still hope. A way out of this mess her sister had been victimized into. “Remember what you read. You have to stop believing these lies.”

  “God would want me to be punished.”

  What could Keelyn say to turn this around?

  “What will you do when you’re done?”

  Raven’s eyes narrowed as the words sank in. Her mouth gaped open, yet no words were vocalized.

  Keelyn stepped closer. Her breath puffed from her in rapid, thin vapors. “What will you do when this is over? You won’t be going back to Sophia. You’ll either rot in prison like your crazy father or be on the run your entire life!”

  She’d lit the fuse.

  Raven punched her left side where her dressing covered the tunnel into her chest. Keelyn’s eyes widened in shock as she struggled to breathe. She backpedaled several steps before gaining her balance. Anger flamed her vision white as the adrenaline surge muted the pain.

  Keelyn charged back, hit Raven mid-chest with her forearm, and knocked her to the ground. Just as Keelyn went to hold her in place by pinning Raven’s shoulders into the cold dirt, Raven sat up and pulled Keelyn’s ankles out from under her.

  Keelyn’s back slammed into the earth. Air exploded from her mouth. Her side ruptured in fire. Terror flooded through her as she vainly tried to refill her lungs with icy air.

  Raven scrambled and sat on top of her.

  “What’s the matter, Sis?” She placed her hand in the middle of Keelyn’s chest. “Can’t breathe?”

  Her vision faded, and all went black.

  Chapter 51

  LEE SLUGGED ANOTHER HOT CUP of coal black coffee to shake the edges of fatigue that clouded his mind. Nathan had insisted he take a few short hours to sleep before they hit Gavin with this interview, and the torn couch in the detective’s lounge offered little comfort. Neither did his tormented thoughts. Sleep came in fits of surrender.

  Less than twelve hours left to ascertain Keelyn’s location, develop a tactical plan, and try to get there in time to save her life. Coordinating between agencies was going to be a nightmare with such a short window.

  Conner barely hung onto life. When Lee had returned with the drugs in hand, it gave the medical team the clues they needed so they could administer drugs to counteract the effects of the potassium on his heart. The ICU physician explained the massive dose of the electrolyte seized up the muscle s
o it couldn’t beat.

  Unfortunately, it had taken the medical team more than twenty minutes to stabilize Conner’s heart rhythm. Now he lay in a comatose state.

  He probably didn’t even know he was Sophia’s father.

  Lee glanced at the text again.

  I’m at Sophia’s. My grandmother’s house.

  He was unsure of when the message was actually sent. The situation with Gavin and Conner had tied Lee up well into the early morning before he could get his dead phone into the charger. In the interim, they’d sent teams of police officers to try to find out where this location could be. Clearly Raven’s phone was either turned off or out of power. Finding Keelyn’s grandmother’s home was mystifying the best detectives on the force. They’d sent additional officers to John Samuals’s property to see if any remaining personal effects could offer a clue.

  They’d found an old photo album. Some with sepia-toned pictures contained a young girl who appeared to be Keelyn’s mother, Sophia. They were trying to track down a marriage license, anything.

  So far, Keelyn’s life fell like sand through his fingers.

  He had to hit Gavin with everything he had.

  Nathan approached the interview room. “You ready?”

  Lee checked a few notes. “Absolutely. Has he been read his rights?”

  “Yes, he’s refusing a lawyer. Says he wants to get everything out in the open.”

  Lee smiled. “They’re always their own worst enemy.”

  “I’ll let you take the lead since you found the most damming piece of evidence. Just remember, you get him mad enough, and he may not tell you anything. It might be best to come across as a friend first. Like you admire him.”

  Lee’s stomach twisted in pain. Befriend his enemy? “I’ll do what I need to do to get Keelyn back.”

  He pushed through the door and pasted the best fake smile to his face he could muster.

  “Dr. Donnely. Hope you were able to rest a little bit last night.”

  “Oh sure, sleeping in a fetid jail cell was just dandy.”

  Lee let the comment slide. He sat at the table. “There’re a couple of issues we’re going to need to clear up.”

  Nathan positioned himself behind Gavin so he was visible to Lee. His eyes deviated toward the ceiling.

  “Can you explain what you were doing inside Conner’s room?”

  “It’s simple. I was visiting a former patient. Checking on his welfare.”

  “And the drugs in your pocket?”

  “Just some empty vials of medication.”

  “The doctors think you used the Valium to knock Conner out and the potassium to stop his heart from beating.”

  “Well, nice theory, but the trouble the hospital is going to have is they were already using these medications for Conner’s treatment. The Valium to help ease his anxiety and the potassium chloride was a part of his maintenance IV solution. My being there when he arrested was merely happenstance. Unfortunately, I think your brother suffered a drug error caused by the hospital. Sadly, it isn’t that rare.”

  Lee inhaled deeply to keep his fist from striking Gavin again. “I’ve got to hand it to you.”

  “How so?”

  “You’ve really pulled yourself together over the last two days. Last time Nathan and I saw you, you looked like you were unraveling a bit.”

  Gavin nodded. “Things are clearer for me now.”

  “Speaking of former patients, I’d like to talk about Raven. I have the sense there may have been more than a doctor-patient relationship going on.”

  “And your basis for that might be?”

  “For one, the psychiatrist reviewing your medical care of Raven will testify, at the very least, you were overstepping your bounds by touching her inappropriately and may have gone as far as to enter a sexual relationship with a minor. In fact, you think you’re Sophia’s father.”

  Gavin shrugged.

  “That’s why you bought Raven the house she was living in. Why you were paying her bills.”

  He stilled.

  “I was confused about several things happening to Keelyn. She got these mysterious gifts at times for the child. Toys—diaper cream. It was the ointment that confused me when I looked at it. Had to be special-ordered. When I talked to a local pharmacist about it, she said the only people who really knew about it were physicians.”

  “What does any of this matter?”

  “I think you suspected Raven could be a danger to Sophia and were trying to warn Keelyn about it. To protect Sophia.”

  “If that’s true, maybe I’m not such a bad guy, after all.”

  “The problem is, Sophia is not your child. She’s actually Conner’s.”

  Gavin’s eyes widened slightly. He folded his hands on the table. “Looks like you’re going to have trouble getting some of your accusations to stick. How can you prove Raven and I were ever together?”

  “That statement leads me to believe you feel like you’ve got everything wrapped up with a nice little bow.” Lee mimicked the motion with his hands.

  Gavin chuckled. “You can think whatever you want.”

  “I’d like to talk a little bit about what you were like as a young man.”

  “That’s been quite a few years.”

  “Nathan and I discovered an interesting thing. Your father was killed in a work-related accident caused by John Samuals.”

  Gavin bit into his lip, a small fracture in the facade. “That’s true.”

  “In light of that, why would you want anything to do with the Samuals family?”

  “Of course, I wasn’t a fan of John Samuals. A year after I started medical school, he set up a meeting to talk about the accident. Said he was going to try to fix things.”

  “How?”

  “By making sure there was an antidote for the weapon he created.”

  “Why would he need to be worried about that when the evidence of his work was destroyed?”

  “As long as John Samuals is alive, his work can be duplicated.”

  Lee put aside the conspiracy theory. He didn’t have time to delve into it with Keelyn’s time running out. “So you forgave him.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Why did you insinuate yourself into Lucy Freeman’s practice?”

  “Truth be told, John Samuals was a fascinating character. I wanted to know more about him, and I knew Lucy Freeman had the most intimate information.”

  “But why did you stay?” Lee pressed.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Once you were in, I’m assuming you read through all of John’s psychiatric notes. After you got all of those dirty little secrets on John, you could have walked away—should have walked away. I’m looking for the reason you stayed.”

  “You’re right. I could have left, but then I met Raven. She was so troubled. I thought I could really help her.”

  “That’s the only reason. A sense of altruism?”

  “Well, the money was amazing, and I was using my salary to fund my other projects.”

  Lee shuffled through his notes. “Speaking of that, I’ve been curious about your fascination with spider venom. I almost wonder if you were trying to replicate John’s work. Reformulate that bioweapon yourself. That would have been big bucks if you could have done it. Big defense contracts would come your way, I bet.”

  Gavin sat silent.

  “But then there was the part of you that really wanted to avenge your father’s death. What better way to do that than make John suffer by having one of his kids go down for murder.”

  “Really? That’s what you think?”

  “What I know is several people will testify that Raven worsened under your care. Why would you let that happen? If you really cared for her, if you weren’t cutting it, why not let Dr. Freeman take over?”

  “At best, Lucy Freeman was incompetent.”

  Lee’s gaze locked on Gavin’s eyes. “She caught on to you. Filed a complaint. Is that why she died?”

  “You
’ll have to ask your dear brother about that.”

  “Oh, right. The gun with Conner’s prints on it and all.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Curious thing about those prints.” Lee slammed a couple of DVDs onto the counter.

  At first, a mild look of surprise quickly covered with a claim of contemptuous boredom. “What would those be?”

  “Dr. Vanhise, an ethical, highly respected psychiatrist, has been reviewing these tapes of your patient sessions. My guess is these people didn’t know they were being videoed without their permission, right?”

  Gavin swallowed hard, the snake with a mouse caught in his throat.

  Lee continued. “And we found your two secret stashes. One behind your spider friends and the other tucked up in the attic of your home. Those were pretty good hiding places, I have to say.” Lee tapped the first silver disk. “This DVD shows you administering a sedative nasally to Conner, taking the gun you asked him to bring, and pressing his prints onto the weapon.”

  “That was part of his therapy.”

  “Of course it was. That’s why you’re wearing latex gloves while you do it. It wouldn’t be because you were concerned your prints might get on the firearm.”

  “You still have Conner at the diner with the dead doctor. Oh, and that nasty little interchange.”

  “Ah, yes. That’s true. He was there.”

  “Fingered at the scene by your fiancée.”

  “We’re not together anymore. I should thank you. She was getting on my nerves anyway. Her and that bratty kid. Good riddance.” He waved at the air as if batting a mosquito. Lee’s heart hammered at the lie. Was Gavin as good at reading body language as Keelyn?

  Gavin smiled slightly. “Good to be free, right?”

  Lee tapped the second disk. “This is footage from the front of the restaurant. You were smart to have Lucy park the SUV all the way into the corner of the lot so the actual shooting is not seen. You asked Raven to coordinate a lunch meeting, right? Then you show up. Tell her you want to talk. Maybe you were going to drive them off site and that’s why Freeman was on the passenger’s side.”

  No comment.

  “Curious thing is there is footage of your vehicle coming and going from the lot. And the trunk seems weighted down when you enter—like maybe there’s a body in it. Clay Timmons’s body, perhaps.” Lee pushed the case aside. “But forensics will sort that out now that your vehicle’s been impounded. Regardless, footage puts you at the scene of the crime.”