I gritted my teeth, trying not to let the many roadblocks frustrate me more than they already had.
“But I have good news,” Gamma said. “I got a report back from my contact.” She removed her phone from her pocket and opened the screen to an email. She handed it over.
Georgina,
Interesting find. I’ve attached a full report and chemical breakdown on what was in the capsule, but I’ll break it down simply for you here as well.
The liquid inside the capsule was a high dosage of tetrodotoxin. Or pufferfish venom. It’s a rather potent neurotoxin, that’s found in the skin, liver and ovaries of the fish. Interestingly, it’s possible to take smaller doses of this venom and not die but mimic the effects of death.
Of course, the person in question would need to be placed on a respirator or life support until they revived, but an interesting side note, nonetheless.
I haven’t seen anything like this in a while. Where did you find it, if you don’t mind me asking?
Sincerely,
Dr. Geoff Sharpe
My eyes widened. I re-read the email three times before looking up at Gamma, who nodded repeatedly.
“Tetrodotoxin.”
“Surely not,” I said. “Surely you don’t think…”
“Jordan’s not dead. He faked it.”
“But why? How? Why?” The words tumbled from me.
Gamma and I walked down the path and out into the open on the grass, so that we could surveil the surrounding area and talk where we knew for sure we wouldn’t be listened in on or interrupted.
“Double agent. Or just a dirty agent working for Turner,” Gamma said. “That’s my only thought.”
“He had that pill from the start,” I replied, inserting what we knew so far. “He gave the necklace containing the pill to Kayla to keep it for him and to throw us off the scent. Then he must have taken it, removed the pill, left the necklace in the library. The necklace gave Josephine a rash. She must’ve been allergic to tetrodotoxin—maybe some of it spilled out of the pill when he removed it. After that he went upstairs and faked his death. But how? The noose?”
“Did you see his neck at all?”
“No. I didn’t take a close look.”
“And it was the medical examiner who fetched him,” Gamma said. “The same medical examiner who has now fled, probably because he was working with the person who stole Jordan’s corpse.”
“Except he wasn’t a corpse.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
I paced back and forth letting the ideas on the tip of my tongue bounce out and off my grandmother. “Jordan fakes his death, his corpse is retrieved by Kyle, has to be Kyle because who else would have access to something like tetrodotoxin. He is taken from the medical examiner’s office and kept alive. But why? Why?”
“Because he knows the inn,” Gamma said, instantly. “Remember when we first found him in the inn? He was hiding out in the secret passages.”
I nearly lost my breath. “If Kyle knows all the passages, some that aren’t on the map we have then—”
“Trouble,” Gamma said.
“But what about Hannah?”
“She saw Jordan setting up a camera. Maybe they thought she knew too much,” Gamma replied, not pacing, but her heel tapping in the moist grass. “I doubt she’s alive, but if she is we need to find her. We need to figure out where they’ve hidden her.”
A whistle sounded from the back of the inn. Brian stood there, waving at us.
21
“I want to take you away,” Smulder said, arms folded because he’d anticipated my response already. “Both of you. The inn isn’t safe, and Grandpa has gone completely dark.”
“You tried to contact him again?” Gamma asked.
“Yes. And the contact number is dead. The phone doesn’t even ring. Something is very wrong.”
“Too bad,” I said. “I’m not leaving.”
I tried to walk past, but Smulder caught my arm, gently. “Charlie, stop.”
“I am not leaving. What are we supposed to do, Brian? Run away? Leave the cats and Lauren and Maria here to deal with whatever happens? I’m not doing that.”
“Georgina, please.” Brian let go of me and turned to my grandmother, realizing that appealing to her was the only option he had left.
“This is Charlotte’s fight,” my grandmother said. “And her choice. Your plan was to have Turner come here, and now he’s arrived you want to shift the goalposts?” Notably, my grandmother had broken cover by mentioning Kyle’s last name, but that was because she believed it didn’t matter. It was too late to turn back.
“I want to keep Charlotte safe.”
“I don’t need you to keep me safe, Brian,” I snapped. “I need you to be on my side for once.”
“For once?”
“Yeah. Stop trying to keep me out of trouble and help me deal with this instead. And if you don’t want to do that, then just leave.”
“What? No. I’m not leaving.”
I was so annoyed, I walked past Brian and into the kitten foster center. Maria was still in her spot, paging through her magazine, and the kittens played with each other or went potty in the main area of the center.
Gamma followed me inside, and once we were in the inn's hallway, she stopped me.
“We need to talk to Lauren,” she said. “This isn’t going to be pretty. Turner will come here, and he will try to harm her and everyone you care about. It’s time she knows the truth.”
My stomach jolted. “Are you sure? This could ruin everything for you.”
“I’m sure, Charlotte. It’s the right thing to do. I know that woman, and she won’t leave without a fight. We can’t keep her safe without revealing the truth to her, so that’s what we’ll have to do.”
I squared my shoulders before Gamma and I both entered the kitchen to find Lauren mixing a bowl of batter.
“There you are,” she said, grinning at us, her pigtails bobbing. She’d been happier of late, which made this even more difficult.
“Lauren, we need to talk. Take a seat.” My grandmother spoke in her commanding tone.
“I was just about to put some cupcakes
