Page 73 of Hunting Pretty

Seamus: WTF have you gotten yourself into?

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I sat up, fumbling for my bedside light, drawing mysheets up around me and glancing to the window to make sure I was still alone.

I didn’t care that it was barely five a.m. I dialed his number, chewing my bottom lip and trying to ignore the current of electricity running through me.

He answered after four long rings, his muffled, sleepy voice coming through the speaker. “H-hello?”

“What was the drug?” I demanded.

“Huh, wha? What time is it?”

Frustration itched under my skin. “Seamus, you said you got the results back. What was it?”

There was a shuffling of material and a clatter and I imagined him fumbling around for a light or his glasses.

He cleared his throat and his voice came on a little more awake now. “First, I ran it through the mass spectrometer to determine the molecular—”

“Seamus!” I interrupted with a frustrated growl. “Give me the TLDR in non-science speak.”

“Oh. Yes. Right. So I ran a full panel of tests on the sample you gave me.”

I snatched the notepad and pen from my bedside table and prepared to take notes. “And?”

“It’s not a combination I’ve ever seen before.” He paused and the silence felt sharp. “Ava, where did you get this sample?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. For a second, I debated telling him the truth. But then my stalker’s warning echoed in my mind.

I was fine risking my own safety. But I was not okay risking anyone else’s. The less he knew, the better.

“That’s not important, Seamus. Just tell me what the drug is.”

There was a long pause.

For a moment I thought I’d have to coax it out of him or bribe him by offering to put in a good word to Lisa about him. I wasn’t blind. I saw the way he looked at her when he thought no one was looking.

Lisa was clueless though. She thought Seamus just helped us because he was nice.

He was. A nice guy, I mean. But getting close to Lisa was definitely a major factor in his helpfulness.

“Please,” I tried, infusing my voice with urgency. “It’s important.”

He let out a sigh. “Okay. Fine.”

I fist-pumped internally.

“I just… whatever you and Lisa are investigating for the paper. Be careful, okay?”

“I will,” I said, crossing the fingers of my left hand.

“The drug is made up of three main compounds. One is called Curare. The other is Lycorine, which is a natural compound that affects the nervous system. The last one is Scopolamine.”

Curare.

Lycorine.

Scopolamine.

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