Page 91 of Forbidden Dark Vows

The blanket is suddenly too hot. I shove it off my legs and stand up. I go to the window, turning the words over inside my head—arsenic poisoning, arsenic poisoning, arsenic poisoning—but the view is too busy, and I can’t concentrate.

“What the fuck, Ruby?” I turn around to face her. “How does that even happen?”

“Turns out you can get it from contaminated water or by inhaling pesticides.”

“But not in your case.”

She shrugs. “I can’t think of anything, but that doesn’t mean?—”

I’m on my knees in front of her, squeezing her hand. “Does she think someone was trying to poison you? Be honest with me, Ruby. Does she?”

My thoughts are spinning around while I wait for her to answer.

“Maybe. The hospital is investigating my results. According to Mel-my friend, my parents will be questioned.”

I’m back on my feet, pacing the living room, hands balled into fists. Her parents will be questioned as a matter of procedure, investigating Ruby’s lifestyle, recent activities, her mental health. But that will take time, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll find anything conclusive. Then what? What happens when they draw blanks all round?

I already know the answer. I vowed to protect Ruby, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll find the fucker who poisoned her if it’s the last thing I do.

“Who? Who would do such a thing? Why would anyone want to hurt you?”

“Harry, sit down.” Ruby pats the cushion next to her. “I’m safe now. It’ll take a little while to get out of my system, but I’ll be okay.”

“It could’ve killed you.” The situation is magnified by a hundred times when I say the words out loud. “Whoever did this is not going to get away with it, Ruby. I swear I’ll hunt them down and make them pay. They’ll wish they’d picked on someone else by the time I’m finished with them.”

“Please, Harry. Leave it. I’m not going back to Chicago.”

But I’m not listening to her. Who would want to hurt Ruby? Why would someone try to poison her? Why poison? My thoughts are colliding like the bumper cars at Coney Island, crashing into each other and spinning off at tangents. I’ll find them. I won’t stop until I do, because no one hurts Ruby Jackson and gets away with it.

My dad’s face, when he pinned me up against the wall with his hand around my throat, pops into my head. I pick up the phoneand dial his home number. I expect it to go through to the answering machine and am surprised when he says hello.

“Dad, it’s me, Harry.” Silence. “Did you poison Ruby?”

More silence, the seconds ticking away with the beat of my heart. Ruby gasps from the sofa.

“Is that what you think of me?”

The adrenaline rush fades as quickly as it began, and I sit heavily on the edge of the sofa, the phone still pressed to my ear. “No.”

“Glad to fucking hear it.” The line goes dead.

“Harry, you don’t really think your dad would do that, do you?” Ruby’s arm snakes around me, and she rests her head on my shoulder.

“No.” He can be intimidating, and rude, and ruthless when he wants to be, but is he a murderer? “I have to make another call.”

“Now?” She sits back.

I’m on my feet and pacing the floor again. Carlos Russo answers his office phone on the third ring.

“How’s Ruby?” he asks.

“Better than she was. She’s here with me.”

“Good, because I need to see you in the office tomorrow.”

I don’t know how I can even think about the new venture, but I agree to meet him anyway. “Carlos, I need your help with another matter. I promise this will be the last thing I ever ask you.”

His laughter booms out of the telephone and bounces across the room. “You should never make promises you cannot keep. I’ll see you in the morning, bright and early.”

---