Page 114 of Power of the Mind

“I’m sorry?”

“I said I’m looking for information about your… job and… products.”

She tipped her head to the side, waiting for me to go on.

I snatched my credentials back and shoved the card into my wallet with excessive force. “Look, lady, all I want to know is if anyone off the street can walk in and buy this shit?” I motioned to the junk piled on the shelves.

“Shit?”

“Stuff. Fuck. Herbs. I don’t know. The pills. Ointments. Magic potions. The dried flowers in the bins at the back. Can anyone walk in and buy them?”

Janek’s lips tightened. “Yes.”

“Great. Perfect.” I looked around. “Is any of it toxic?”

“Is any of what toxic?”

Was I not speaking English?

I snapped a bottle off the shelf. “Any of it. Like this.” I rattled the plastic bottle full of pills. “If I took the whole bottle, would it kill me?”

Why was she staring at me like that?

“Mr. Krause, I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at. Do you need me to call someone?”

“Call someone?”

“Are you feeling ill?”

“Am I… What? No. Why would you… I just want to know if this will kill me.” I shook the bottle.

“Do you want to die, Mr. Krause?”

“What? No. Jesus. I just want to know if it’s toxic in large doses?”

Janek stared at me a long time before shifting her attention to the bottle in my hand. “No, Mr. Krause. It’s fish oil. If you took the whole bottle, your stomach would probably rebel, and you’d vomit. If you didn’t, you would likely have bloating, nausea, cramps, and diarrhea. There is a slim chance it could cause bleeding, but it’s highly unlikely, and it wouldn’t kill you.”

I frowned at the bottle of fishy gelcaps and threw them carelessly back on the shelf.

Janek stood it properly next to the others and recrossed her arms as I scanned the supplements and snagged another, reading the label that time. Good. Something I’d never heard of.

“What about this one? If I ingested this whole bottle, would it kill me?”

“How about you tell me why you want to die, Mr. Krause.”

“I don’t want to fucking die. I want to know if it’s possible to make it happen.”

“Are you feeling suicidal?”

“Homicidal at the moment,” I said under my breath.

Janek shifted her weight and surreptitiously checked the front door to the shop. “So you’re itching to do away with an enemy?” She raised a brow, her smile less authentic and shakier.

“Jesus fucking Christ. Believe me, lady. If I wanted to kill someone, I wouldn’t do it with fish oil or whatever the fuck this is. It would be a lot more hands-on and a lot bloodier.”

“Well, good to know because you wouldn’t succeed with fish oil.” She plucked the new bottle from my hand and put it neatly back on the shelf. “Nor would you succeed with Moringa leaf.”

I was losing control of the situation. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d had it to begin with. A clatter sounded somewhere in another room before I could figure out how to get us back on track. A dark-haired guy in his early twenties with the whisps of a wannabe mustache emerged from a storage area.

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