by CeeCee James
It was a piece of heavy, brown packing paper.
Scott shook off some nameless debris and unfolded it.
“What is it?” I asked
“It looks like a homemade envelope. It’s addressed to me.” A piece of wax paper fluttered out to the ground. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands.
“Be careful with that, Scott!”
“I’m trying to be.” Scott flipped the packaging paper around. “No return address. But the postal stamp is from Miami.” His eyes were wide when he looked at me. “That’s where William is from.”
“Well, that's weird. Do you know anyone else there?”
“No, I don’t. This is all getting pretty crazy.”
I sat on the curb of the sidewalk and dug my phone from my purse. I needed to get hold of Kristi, and I wasn’t going to be put off any longer.
Chapter 17
After I had sent a text to Kristi, I texted Ruby and told her it was an emergency. I counted on Ruby ringing Kristi’s bell and knew one way or another, I’d be hearing from Kristi soon.
“Scott,” I said, sliding my phone back into my purse. “You ready to go?”
There was no answer. I glanced over.
He was hanging onto the porch rail for support. The brown packaging paper slipped from his fingers.
“Scott?” I screamed, running over. I barely caught him before he tumbled to the ground.
“Help!” I screamed at the neighbor’s house. “Help!” I tried to ease him down, his weight nearly toppling me over. We landed in the dirt with a thump. Squirming around, I got his head situated in my lap. His face was pale, and his eyes were glassy. “Scott!” I said patting his cheeks and fanning his face. “What’s going on? Wake up!”
“Maisie, I don’t feel so good,” he groaned quietly.
“What’s going on?” His eyes were dilated despite the hot sunshine.
Mrs. Carmichael opened her door. “What do you want?”
My face turned in her direction. “Call 911 now!”
“You take your drunk boyfriend out of here.”
“I’m fine,” Scott struggled to sit back up. “Let’s just get out of here.”
“Now!” I screamed at her, then using my most threatening tone. “You call 911 right now or so help me, by the time my lawyer’s done with you obstructing justice, Peanut won’t have to worry about having you as an owner.”
Her face blanched and she scurried back into the house. She’s not going to do it. I inwardly cursed up a storm while I worked to free my purse from under Scott. Finally, I had it and the cell out. Just as I was set to dial 911, Mrs. Carmichael came out on the porch again, the phone to her ear.
“They’re asking me if he’s having trouble breathing,” she said.
My heart leaped to my throat. “You okay buddy? How’re you feeling? You breathing okay?” Relief filled me as he gave a weak thumbs up. I nodded to Mrs. Carmichael, tears in my eyes.
Mrs. Carmichael gave the operator the address. She studied me from the porch for a minute before going back inside.
Scott’s head dropped against my leg. He tugged at the corner of my shirt, and I saw in his hand the envelope from the drawer in his house. “Take this,” he croaked. “Keep it safe.”
“Okay, buddy, I will.” I put it in my purse. “You’re going to be okay.” I continued to fan him and pat his cheek as tears dripped down my face. Never had I felt so alone.
The duplex’s door squeaked again, and Mrs. Carmichael came down the stairs. “You go back in there!” she scolded her dog. She brought over an umbrella and hoisted it up so that the shade fell across Scott’s head and body.
I looked at her with gratitude. That would teach me to judge a person on first impressions.
“Here’s a washcloth,” she offered. “I got it wet. Maybe wipe down his face and see if you can cool him off.”
“Thank you.” I accepted the cloth, feeling more humble than I had in a long while. I carefully wiped his face.
The water seemed to revive him somewhat. “I’m okay. Just need a drink of water. Get me in the house, Maisie.”
“Just hang tight, buddy.”
After what seemed like an eternity, I heard the ambulance’s sirens faintly in the distance.
“You’re going to be okay, Scott.” I wiped the cloth over his hair, dampening it.
The driver jockeyed the ambulance in by our cars, and soon the paramedics had him strapped to the stretcher.
“He was touching that.” I pointed to the brown paper still on the ground.
The paramedic looked at me like I was crazy. “Yeah?”
“You need to preserve it somehow. It’s his brother and girlfriend that the news was talking about with the mysterious illness. He just dug that out of his trash can and opened it, then felt sick.”
The paramedic glanced at Mrs. Carmichael, who said, “You heard her. That could be important.” He went into the back of the ambulance, returning with a red hazard bag. Cautiously, he picked up the envelope and waxed paper and put them in the bag, then peeled off his gloves and dropped them in too.
The paramedic clapped me on the shoulder. “He’s going to be okay. You coming along?”
I nodded. “I’ll follow you.”
With that, they got into the ambulance and left with sirens blaring.
My phone vibrated from an incoming text. Kristi. —I’m super busy so you better not be joking. What’s the emergency?
Kristi jumped on the information I gave her. She, along with Detected Boyle headed to the hospital to meet the ambulance to gather the evidence. Before she hung up, she assured me that she’d have the envelope sent immediately to the lab.
“Good work, Maisie. If this has the answers I think it does, the doctors might finally know what they’re dealing with.”
We hung up, and I dropped down onto the duplex stairs. I just needed a second before I got behind the wheel.
A little tickle and then a wet nose touched my elbow. I turned my head to see a chihuahua with black eyes staring up at me.
“You must be the infamous Peanut,” I whispered, reaching over to stroke his head.
“That’d be him, all right.” Mrs. Carmichael said from behind me. “I was just getting you a glass of lemonade. You were looking a little peaked, and I didn’t need another casualty on my doorstep.”
She handed me the glass, clinking with ice and slick with condensation. I took a long sip.
“Thank you so much for the help,” I said.
“It’s not a problem.” She stared out into the yard with her arms crossed, and then blurted out, “Despite my panties being in a bunch.”
I’d just taken another sip and started to choke. She squatted down and banged on my back while I hacked away helplessly.
Finally, eyes watering and feeling flushed, I sputtered out, “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay.” She smiled. “Sometimes panties can get that way.”
Together, we laughed.
After a few more minutes of calming down and collecting myself enough to feel like I could safely drive to the hospital, I bid Mrs. Carmichael and Peanut goodbye.
The drive to the hospital was not the one I’d expected to take earlier, seeing that now my biggest ally in this investigation just went down for the count. I only hoped that we’d caught whatever the poison was soon enough that he wouldn’t become as sick as the other two.
Whatever it was had to be powerful. He’d only just been holding it.
At the hospital, I took the elevator up to meet Ruby. She was waiting for me outside the elevator, when the door opened.
“What’s going on? Where is he?” I asked. My phone had been vibrating like crazy with incoming texts, but I hadn’t had a chance to check them.
“They just started preliminary tests, but from Scott’s reaction, they know it was a neurotoxin,” Ruby said. She grabbed me into a hug. “Oh, my heavens! It could have been you!”
It really could have been me! I hadn’t though
t of that. What if I had picked up the paper when he’d dropped it? I shuddered and wiped my hand on my pants.
“Where is he?”
“Scott’s still in the ER. Kristi is with him. She just texted that he’s alert.”
“Alert?”
“They’re treated him with an anti-venom. Tiger Snake to be exact.”
“Anti-venom? You’re kidding me?”
“Finding that envelope ruled out chemical ingestion. Scott was exhibiting symptoms of being bitten by a King Cobra, and that’s the antidote they use. Which actually breaks my heart for my cousin.”
“Why?”
“Because, ultimately, the paralysis that sets in doesn’t affect the brain. That means she’s been awake the entire time we thought she was in a coma. They call it the ‘cell prison syndrome.’”
I shivered at the word. The image of being caught in a paralyzed body, unable to communicate flashed through my brain.
“That’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard of,” I murmured.
Ruby’s eyes filled with tears. “I know. Natalie’s been lying there listening to everything going around her. She must have been terrified.” She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “But she’s regaining some movement now.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, she’s making small motions with her hands and feet. They’re hopeful that she’ll improve faster now.”
“Wow, that's so awesome! What about William? Do you know how he is doing?”
“Not really. Natalie may be really lucky. Often, this stuff leads to permanent brain damage.”
My hand flew to my mouth. I had been worried about them drifting off and never waking up again. It hadn't occurred to me that there could be an even worse outcome.
Ruby pulled out her phone and read an incoming text. “Okay, Kristi is on her way up. Let’s go sit.”
I followed Ruby to the small waiting area.
“You going to be okay if I leave you for a bit? I haven’t been home for two days.” Ruby sniffed her armpit and grimaced. I smiled at her joke but saw the real exhaustion in her eyes.
“Yeah. Of course. You go take a break. You earned it.”
Ruby hugged me and headed for the elevators. I sat back in the chair. A magazine caught my eye, and I started to flip through it. My brain was spinning so much I could barely concentrate.
Kristi came bustling around the corner. She was in her uniform, with various items strapped to a leather belt around her waist. “Maisie! Who knew you’d actually be the one to break this case open! And save my cousin to boot.”
I have to admit, those words felt pretty darn good. After everyone always nagged at me for meddling, I was finally hearing some validation. For a fleeting moment, I wished Detective Boyle could have heard her.
“What’s going on? How’s Scott?” I asked.
“He’s doing good. Conscious. He won’t be going bull riding any time soon, but they’re expecting him to make a full recovery.”
I hugged myself in relief.
She continued. “So, the lab is working on the packaging Scott found, but they think they’re getting it narrowed down. They’re focusing on a particular sea slug, whose habitat includes the waters near Miami.
“Okay?” I shrugged.
Kristi took a chair across from me. “You know how everyone makes a big deal about not eating oysters in months that end with R?”
“Yes.” I wasn't sure where this was going, but it definitely wasn't where I had expected it to go. Hadn’t we just been talking about snakes? And now sea slugs?
“There's a very good reason for that. And it's not just oysters. During the summer months, phytoplankton warm up and produce the algae blooms that you hear about. Like when we get the red tide from the algae blooms. Well, the guys at the lab are looking into a toxin caused by that called brevetoxin. And type A brevetoxin is specific neurotoxin that occurs in those sea slugs. It’s a type that is spreadable through dermal transfer.”
“So, you’re saying …”
“We’re hypothesizing that the paper in the envelope was coated with the toxin.”
“How did the other two get into it?”
Kristi sighed. “We don’t know that yet. But we’re getting closer to the bottom of this. Anyway, Natalie seems to be responding to the treatment.” Kristi shook her head. “However she became exposed to it, I guess it was a smaller dose than William received. She doesn't seem to have as much damage.”
That news was bittersweet. Natalie could be okay, but William may not be. I felt for Scott. Without parents, William was all the family he had. And the big question was, who would do this to them and why?
Chapter 18
Kristi stood up to leave.
“Just one more thing,” I said to stop her. “The cigarette butts. Have you found anything out about them?”
“Detective Boyle said he was going to the hotel later today to collect them. Is the room still sealed?”
I nodded and then said, “By the way, I got a visit from Daren Fairchild this morning.”
Kristi paused. “Ooh, boy.”
“He wasn’t too happy that he’d heard I was helping Scott.”
“Yeah, well, be careful. He’s in the hospital somewhere, right now. He’s been here all day.”
Lovely. “He mentioned something about a suicide note.”
Rubbing her hand over her neck, Kristi sank back into the chair. “That’s true.”
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“At first glance, it might answer some questions, but coming on the feet of the other letter, it’s definitely suspicious.” Kristi stretched her legs out in front of her and gave the exhale of someone who’d been up all night with still hours to go before she’d see her bed. “The note said that she was mortified that her boyfriend stole the family heirloom, and she felt she owed it to her family to make right the wrong that brought shame to the family name.”
This was not adding up. “What are you talking about?”
“They have a video of Scott stealing the necklace.”
I swallowed. Why had they kept the video quiet this whole year? “Okay…what was on it?”
“It was taken five days ago. His face is as plain as day on the screen.”
I felt a wave of confusion. I rubbed the back of my neck as I tried to make sense of it. Then I remembered the waitress saying she’d heard William say he was going to break into a safe.
“That must have been William on the tape,” I said. “He had the necklace in his fingers when I found him.”
“Marcie said she saw Scott holding it.”
“She did. Scott got it out of William’s clothes. Remember, I was trying to tell you about it on the day William went into cardiac arrest. I saw it the paramedic put it in his pocket.”
“William?” Kristi’s brow wrinkled. “Why on earth would he break in and do that? Did Scott put him up to it?”
“No. Scott said William called to say he was in trouble. He got into gambling debts and had one last job to do to pay them off. That must have been it! He was going to talk more to William, try to help him. But, William never showed up.”
“Hmm,” Kristi pulled a tablet and a pen from her belt. She started taking notes.
“You know what I’m worried about with all of this,” I said when she paused.
“Only one thing? I’ve got about twenty things keeping me awake at night. Let’s hear it.”
“I’m worried about Scott. That package showed up at his house. That’s his name and address. To me, it seems like he was the intended victim.”
Kristi scratched through her short hair and wrote some more. She caught my eye. “Don’t get discouraged. We’re closing in. We’re going to get this guy.”
“And with that kind of suicide note, don’t you think it means Natalie was the intended victim too?”
“The letter went on to say that she dropped the necklace down into the lover’s pool, where it could be reunited with Luciana.” Her eye
brows raised. “Apparently, that wasn’t true.”
“But her note would have made it look like Scott killed himself out of guilt.”
“Exactly.” She shut the notepad with a snap. “Conveniently no witnesses, and no necklace. Case closed. Except for our resident snoop here.” She winked at me.
“Nancy Drew, at your service.” I sent her a mock salute.
“Just keep your snoop to yourself from here on out,” she warned me, standing again. “I’m going to post some guards outside of William’s, Natalie’s, and Scott’s rooms until we get to the bottom of this. I don’t want whoever it was to realize their plan failed and try again.”
“You’re awesome at what you do, Kristi.”
“That’s why I get paid the big bucks,” she grinned sarcastically.
After leaving Kristi, I headed down the hall to William’s room. I didn’t like to think about it, but Ruby’s chilling explanation of being locked in one’s paralyzed body had my heart hurting for the kid. He must be terrified, and no family around.
I walked into his room, feeling like an intruder. The room was dimly lit by two small lights by the bed. It was only the afternoon, and it made me sad to see him lying in the darkness.
His eyes were shut. It didn’t matter how bright it was in there. Still, I walked over to the window and opened the blinds.
The sunshine spilled into the room, immediately making the room feel happier. I slowly turned and made my way to his bed, a lump growing in my throat.
He really did look exactly like Scott. And it was messing with my mind seeing him lie there.
I jerked my eyes away and tried to calm down. The machines steadily beeped. Taking a deep breath, I looked at his face again.
He hadn’t been shaved since he’d been there, and he had more of a stubble than I’d seen on Scott. I bit my lip and reached for his foot.
“William? My name is Maisie. I’m a friend.”
He didn’t move, and all of his machines chirped along as if I hadn’t said anything. But I knew now that he could hear me, no matter the lack of reaction.
