Page 44 of Shadow Scorching

Dante turned to Diana. “Can you get me a piece of paper, please?”

Diana excused herself. “I’ll be right back, sir.”

I sat next to Tilly and gently smoothed her hair back. “Tilly? Tilly? Dante and I are here with you. We’re looking out for you. Everything will be okay.”

Dante turned to Diane when she returned. “Can you put together a bag for my aunt?”

She nodded. “I’ll do that now.”

The doctor motioned for us to join him. “The ambulance is on the way. I’m taking her to Overland Shifters Community Hospital. I can’t tell you what’s wrong, but hopefully we’ll be able to find out what’s happening after administering a battery of tests. Do you know if she’s been ill lately? Has she come into contact with anything different? This could be an odd allergic reaction.”

Dante began to shake his head, then stopped. “She has a new boyfriend. We’re pretty sure he’s a scammer, out for her money. Maybe he gave her something? She saw him last night and said that she started to feel tired when he was there. They went to dinner, and then came back here. She didn’t remember what they talked about or did. That worried the crap out of me.”

“I can see why,” the doctor asked. “Did she wake up confused this morning?”

“I think so. Diana would know.” Dante turned to me. The worry on his face made me want to step in and fix everything, but I couldn’t. Now, I wished I’d jumped on the mess with Jet earlier, because something inside told me that yes, whoever this guy was, he was responsible for her state.

My phone rang. I glanced at the Caller ID. It was Penn. I moved away from the bed to answer it. “Hey, Penn, what’s up?”

“I wanted to let you know that I’m done. I finished making all the components I needed to, so any time you want to come home, it’s good. Thanks for giving me the space to focus.”

“I’m over at Tilly’s. She’s unconscious, and the doctor can’t figure out what’s wrong. She’s breathing hard, like she might have pneumonia. I’m going to take Dante to the hospital.”

Penn gasped. “Oh man, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

“If you could call Lazenti and Carson, and plan out tomorrow night, I’d appreciate it. Also, conference in Sophia, if you would.Hey, hold on.” I watched as Diana led the EMTs in to prepare Tilly for the hospital. “Listen, I’d better go. The ambulance is here. I don’t know when I’ll be home, but I’ll text you from the hospital.”

“Sure thing. Give Dante a hug for me, please.”

“Will do,” I said, then pocketed my phone. I touched Dante’s arm. “I’ll drive you to the hospital,” I said. I glanced at Diana and added, “Give me a moment.”

“They need to get her ready,” Dante said, his voice flat.

I turned to the maid. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Last night, Tilly had company. A man. Can you tell me if this is him?” I opened my phone and showed her Jet’s picture.

“Yes, that was him. He’s a coyote shifter,” she said, then added, “I didn’t like him, to be honest. He made me nervous.”

“Why did he make you nervous?” I asked.

Diana cocked her head to one side while she thought. After a moment she said, “I think he was waiting for me to get out of the way.”

“Did they drink anything? Or eat anything?”

She thought for a moment. “He brought a bottle of wine with him. They had a glass. But then he took the bottle with him when he left. And he insisted on carrying the glasses into the kitchen and rinsing them out. I was going to, but he grabbed them before I could, and carried them into the kitchen.”

“Well, that’s odd,” I said. But it made sense. If he had spiked her glass, then washing them made sense, so it couldn’t be traced. I turned to the doctor, who was watching the medics lift Tilly onto the gurney. “Doctor? Check her for drugs—a wide spectrum.”

“You think she might be drugged?”

“I think there’s a good chance.” Turning back to Diana, I said, “Were they alone for long?”

Diana said, “At least an hour, after they got back from dinner. I was worried and tried to hang around—I’m good at finding busy work. But the man kept glaring at me and, after a while, Tilly asked if I would leave them alone, but to bring two glasses. So, I did. I had to. When she rang for me next, she seemed so tired. That’s when he grabbed the goblets and took them into the kitchen. He left right after that. I made sure the door was locked and the security system was armed.”

Dante motioned to me. “Let’s go,” he said, picking up the bag Diana had packed.

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