Page 151 of Triggered By Love
He called her back. “What do you have?”
“You get right to the point, don’t you?” Riley guffawed at her own joke. She was beautiful, but a tomboy who didn’t wear makeup and preferred to spend her time doing research on whatever in-depth topic she happened to glom onto.
“Yeah, the show went well, and no one died,” Jason said. “Did you find anything suspicious?”
“The quills on your headdress were poison-tipped,” Riley said. “You ever eat pufferfish? Fugu? It’s quite a delicacy in Japan. Apparently, men consume it as a macho rite of passage to see how close to being poisoned they can get.”
Jason wanted to cut to the quick, but Riley was a curious scientist type and filled her life with in-depth research on whatever she was focused on—to the exclusion of other interests. After reading a novel describing the ancient Chinese custom of foot-binding, she’d dug up every dirty detail, down to the powder dusted on the bindings to keep the scarred flesh from rotting alive.
“Never ate those critters. What gives?”
“The pufferfish has a toxin a thousand times deadlier than cyanide. Even a small amount is enough to kill a grown horse, much less a man. Anyway, someone dipped the barbs of your headdress in pufferfish toxin, or tetrodotoxin.”
Jason’s entire scalp prickled, and he ran his fingers through his hair. “How does it cause death?”
“Tetrodotoxin or TTX is a powerful neurotoxin. It paralyzes you, especially the muscles you need to breathe. It also hits your heart, but the first symptoms mimic drunkenness, like slurred, drunken speech. My guess is whoever planted the poison would spot you and Avery together at the after-party or immediately after the show, accidentally bump you so you’re pierced with the quills, and voila, everyone thinks you two were drunk, and you die six hours later when your respiratory system shuts down. No one would suspect a thing because you would be found in bed, either separate or together.”
“Hey, Riley, thanks. I better question the person who designed the headdress. Anything else?”
“I think you were the target, primarily,” Riley said. “Even better, if and when a genius like me figures out the poison, they could say you committed a murder-suicide because you couldn’t get Avery to love you over her memory of Brando.”
This was where he would end the call. Riley had no filter, and she listened to gossip too much.
“Gotta go,” Jason said. “You did good.”
“Right,” she agreed. “By the way, Blade called and wanted to know the results. Is it okay to share it with him?”
“Sure. Tell him to not let Avery out of his sight. I’ll take care of Ivanna and her little crew.” He hung up and realized he’d lost sight of the group of suspects.
Most of the models had cleared out of the restaurant to join the party out on the deck.
Jason put his phone away and rushed out onto the deck. Trent’s height made him stand out, and he was moving toward the glass triangle where people were taking dares to stand over the transparent area or lie down on it for pictures.
Matt Swanson was busy signing autographs and taking selfies with his fans. Alida, who invited her brother Cory, was nearby and talking excitedly with Avery’s brother Damon, the computer game mogul. Avery, Kerry, and Mrs. Bonet were not with them.
From the corner of his eye, Jason spotted Ivanna and Saul walking briskly to the elevators, as if they couldn’t wait to escape. Trent broke away from the people taking selfies and called for them to wait up.
Why were they leaving so fast? Had someone tipped them off? But who?
Jason tapped his earpiece mic to speak. “Finn, where are they? Where’s Kerry?”
“Mrs. Bonet isn’t feeling well, so Avery decided to take her home.”
“Who’s going to drive them? Where are they now?” Jason jogged toward the elevator.
“Her brother Chase went to get the car. Blade and Kerry are with them. What did you find out?” Finn asked.
“Something about the quills.” Jason lunged for the elevator button, but the doors closed right before he could get in.
Hurriedly, he pushed the button, but it was no use. There was no way he could race down the emergency stairway and beat the elevator.
All he could do was repeatedly push the button until another elevator cart arrived. He entered it just as Finn ran up and made it in before the door closed for the one-minute elevator ride down.
“What’s the problem?” Finn asked. “Everything seems okay. Avery was enjoying the spotlight before noticing Mrs. Bonet looking green in the gills.”
“You should have stuck to them like glue,” Jason said.
“Blade’s with them. They’ll be okay,” Finn said. “What are you worried about? The show’s over and we took precautions. You also asked Secret Service to cancel the fireworks, and the building management brought out the laser show instead. The element of surprise undermined anyone who was planning anything during the show.”
