Page 110 of Our Darkest Summer
The chair creaked as he leaned back, tilting his head, like he was challenging us. Isaac pushed back his chair and walked out of the room. No one spoke. When he returned five minutes later, something was different. The lines on his face had deepened, like he had aged a decade in the span of this short time.
The weight of the truth hung between us, suffocating.
His eyes flicked to the boy. “And what do you have to say about the research on poisons found in your room?”
The boy arched a brow, as if he was amused by the question. A slow smile curled on his lips. “You have no idea how simple it was,” he said, his voice carrying a lazy sort of amusement, like he was explaining a trick, not a murder. He tilted his head, watching our reactions. “I always found my mom’s… system a little haphazard. A grand, cinematic murder. But the best ones?” A soft chuckle. “They’re the ones no one looks for.”
His fingers ghosted over the edge of the table as he leaned forward. “Do you know how easy it is to extract aconitine? I didn’t need a lab. No fancy equipment. No underground poison market. Just a plant.”
Everyone was frozen. Isaac—I wasn’t sure he was breathing.
“Monkshood. Aconitum napellus. Some people grow it for decoration. Hell, your grandmother might have it in her garden right now.”
He looked directly at me, and a flicker of horror spread down my spine.
“You take the root,” he continued, his voice calm, almost bored. “You dry it, grind it into a powder. That’s it. A teaspooncan kill. But I didn’t need that much. A pinch, a single microgram is enough to make someone’s heart stop like flipping off a light switch.” He snapped his fingers, then exhaled, almost as if he was proud of the efficiency. “And the best part?”
He leaned in, voice quieter, like he was sharing a secret, “It doesn’t have a strong taste. You can slip it into something slightly bitter. A dark roast coffee, a spiced meal, tea… the herbs mask everything.”
He leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head.
“They drink it, and twenty minutes later? Dead. No warning, no second chances. And it all looks natural. No one questioned a thing.” His smile grew heavier, a slow grin, like he hadn’t just confessed to murder.
The room cooled.
“That’s the thing about poisoning, you know? It doesn’t have to be complicated.” His eyes gleamed. “It just has to be unnoticed.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Kinsley
The station wasa lot more welcoming in the daylight than it was at night. The halls filled with the scent of hot coffee and papers, two things that felt like a match made in heaven. The seven of us—without Cora, who was prescribed bed rest after Eric hit her on the head—stood across from the same two waiting benches we had sat on barely half a day ago.
We had been called in first thing this morning to give our statements and hear what Eric had confessed to. We needed every scrap of information they could give us. Thomas and Connor needed closure.
I was resting my back against Thomas’ chest, my arms crossed over my own, while his fingers traced slow, absent-minded circles on my side. I was sure he did it to keep himself steady, but it had the same effect on me, too.
Last night changed everything between us. We didn’t just have sex. We saw each other completely unguarded. Bare and raw, with our walls fully gone. Like two fallen stars, colliding after millions of years.
And he… loved me.
Thomas Rhodes loved me. And I loved him too. I’d known it for months. I fell for him not long after Christmas. But sayingit out loud, saying it to him, made my soul feel free. Like it had been caged since that dinner in February with our parents, and now the bars had finally fallen.
Aaliyah squeezed my hand tighter as the door opened, and even Braxton stopped talking. I straightened, feeling Thomas inhale behind me.
“We can start,” Maeve said, her gaze sweeping over us. “The two Rhodes and Ms. Green. Everyone else stays put.”
I let go of Aaliyah’s hand, offering her a reassuring glance before I followed Maeve inside. She was worried for her girlfriend… and rightfully so.
Cora, as it turned out, was the one who had been giving Eric information. She let him know when the lake house would be empty. She left the door open for him while we played hide-and-seek. She even told him about my phobia, which might have led to Marley’s cruel death.
It was bad. It sounded bad. But Cora had been blackmailed into doing it. So there was that.
The three of us were guided into separate rooms, and it looked like I was going to get questioned by the Chief himself.
“Hello, Kinsley.” Isaac Miller motioned for me to sit. I took the chair on the other side of the wooden table.
“You were right about the poison,” he continued before I could say anything.
