Page 37 of So Wicked

“I…” Foster was shaking again. “Please. I didn’t kill anyone, okay?”

Faith and Slade looked at Foster for a long moment. Faith broke the silence. “Why did you have the drugs, Dr. Foster?”

Foster took a deep breath. “I was transporting them to the animal shelter. They were running low.”

“Nope. No reason to hide them if that’s all you were doing.”

Foster whimpered again. “God… this isn’t fair.”

“Three people are dead,” Slade snapped. “That’s a little more unfair, don’t you think.”

“Jesus Christ, Godspareme fromfuckinggoody two-shoes pricks.”

The two investigators blinked in shock at the sudden outburst. Foster sighed in exasperation and said, “I took the drugs, okay? I… Do I need a lawyer?”

“Do you?” Faith asked.

“For… Goddamnit!” She leaned back as far as the shackled would allow and shook her head. “I took the drugs.”

“Why?”

“I sell them.”

Faith lifted an eyebrow. “You sell them?”

“Yes. Pentobarbital isn’t made in capsule form for human consumption anymore, but it’s manufactured in small dosages for pets who have seizures. People take the pills recreationally.”

“How difficult is it to extract a lethal dose from those pills?” Slade asked.

Foster frowned. “What?”

“I feel like that was a simple question.”

“Probably very easy, but who the hell would want to do that?”

“A murderer.”

Foster paled. Slade held her gaze for a moment, then asked, “And the other drugs? Are those taken recreationally?”

“Magnesium sulfate is. It’s the main ingredient in bath salts.”

Slade grimaced. “Lovely.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Foster said. “People are going to do drugs whether I profit from them or not. There are far worse people out there than me.”

Faith leaned forward. Foster paled and leaned away. “Fuckyou,” Faith said quietly. “Three people are dead. We think you killed them. You’re doing a very bad job of convincing us that you didn’t.”

“But Ididn’t,” Foster insisted, her voice barely a whisper. “I swear to God! I just took the drugs. I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Hmm. I’ll make it really easy for you to convince me. Sound good?”

Foster perked up. “Yes! Yes, what do you need me to tell you?”

“Where were you last night for starters? Then how about the night before? And just for fun, where were you two nights before that?”

Foster slumped again. “I can’t tell you that.”

“You sure?” Faith asked. “Because the next step is that we formally charge you for multiple aggravated murders. Some other charges too, but those are the big ones. When that happens, your name and face get blasted on the news.”

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