“I recognized the symptoms,” Raul said, making sure O’Bryant didn’t take full credit for the diagnosis. “Very weak, in and out of consciousness, loss of speech and motor skills, altered mental state. The fact you still have symptoms more than twelve hours later—”
“Wait, what?” Dee sat up straighter and winced from the migraine-like pain that shot through her. “Exactly how long have I been out?”
“Since eight-thirty last night,” O’Bryant said. “It’s eleven-thirty a.m., so—”
“Fifteen hours.” Raul did the math.
“Yikes.” Shivering as much from shock as from the room’s chill, Dee pulled the thin hospital blanket up to her chin. “Do we know for sure?”
“About the drugging?” Raul eyed her. “Yes. You don’t remember doing the test?”
Dee closed her eyes. “I remember two bears taking me into the forest.”
“That was a nurse and doctor taking you into the bathroom to pee into a cup for a urine sample,” O’Bryant said with characteristic bluntness.
Dee opened her eyes.
“We assume someone dropped Rohypnol into your punch cup at the hoedown. Forensics is going through the discarded punch cups to see if they can find anything— the doctored cup with the perp’s fingerprints on it is the hope—but they’re understaffed, so it could take a while. In the meantime, tell us what you remember about when you got the drink.”
Dee scrunched her eyes closed again and replayed the moments surrounding her punch bowl visit. “I saw Liza Chen, Shawn Radinsky, Brian Oakhurst, and Jonas Jones talking and went over to say hello.” She hoped that framing her sleuthing expedition as a bland bit of socializing would fly. Neither officer said anything. Relieved, she continued. “There were tons of people at the hoedown, so it took me a while to get to them. By the time I did, I only saw Liza there. She poured me a cup of punch, which she said was nonalcoholic and tasted that way. The beverage area was four or five people deep and someone jostled her when she gave it to me, and then I got jostled too.”
“Could you see who bumped into either of you?” Raul asked.
Dee shook her head with regret. “No. I wasn’t paying attention. I was only thinking about how much fun I was having at the hoedown.” Here’s hoping they buy that. She snuck a look at Raul. The expression on his face told her he didn’t.
“All righty, then.” O’Bryant stood up. “We spoke to your doctor. She’ll be by shortly to check on you, but thinks you should be ready to leave by later this afternoon. We’ll keep you posted on the investigation on your end. But you need to eighty-six your amateur sleuthing. It’s gonna get you in even bigger trouble than it already has.”
“Yes, sir,” Dee said, cowed. O’Bryant hadn’t bought her disclaimer either. She grudgingly gave the man credit for being sharper than she thought.
The officers left. Dee picked up her cell phone, which was awash with worried messages. Too tired to talk, she texted Jeff an approximate pickup time, then laid her head on the pillow. As she drifted off, she pondered over who might have roofied her. And why? Her last thought before her eyelids fluttered shut: If they thought they’d scare me off, they were dead wrong. Oops. Poor choice of words.
* * *
Jeff picked her up at 5:00 p.m., along with floral arrangements sent from well-wishers, including a few Goldsgonedians, which touched Dee.
“It makes me feel like I’m starting to make friends here,” she told Jeff as he pushed her out of the hospital in the wheelchair the hospital insisted she ride in order to exit. “Although if there’s a way to check and see if any of the flowers have been sprayed with a poison that will kill me if I inhale it, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
“Nothing comes to mind, so maybe sniff them from a distance,” Jeff said.
She arrived home to delirious jumps and licks from Nugget. “There’s also a gift from Serena,” Jeff said, pointing to the refrigerator.
Dee opened the fridge and took out a large wooden platter laden with a huge variety of meats, cheeses, dried fruits, and nuts. “This is so sweet. Look! She spelled ‘Feel better’ in rolled-up slices of prosciutto.”
Jeff helped himself to a few slices. “Now it’s ‘eel etter.’ ”
“It’s practically dinnertime. We might as well eat.”
She and Jeff pulled up stools to the kitchen counter and set upon the board. As they ate, “accidentally” dropping an occasional meat or cheese morsel on the floor near Nugget, Dee tried again to remember any suspects who were in the vicinity of the punch bowl.
“Argh,” she said, frustrated. “It’s like my brain’s got a foggy film over it.”
“That’s the drug,” Jeff said. “It’s gonna take at least another day to get it completely out of your system. Maybe longer.”
Dee scowled. “Terrif. What am I supposed to do until then?”
Jeff stopped eating and faced her. “Delilah, someone drugged you.” He spoke with an intensity she’d never heard before. “This time, you were knocked out. The next time, you might die. You need to step back from even thinking about investigating Michael’s murder. We both do.”
Dee gaped at him. Then incredulity turned to anger. “No! No way am I going to scurry off like some scared rabbit. The Golden is on the line here, Jeffrey.” She threw his whole name back at him, like he’d done with her. “Plus, a human being was murdered. On our property. If there’s anything I can do to expose him or her, I’m going to do it. Full stop.”
Jeff casually popped a few almonds in his mouth. “So am I.”
Dee screwed her eyes shut and placed her hands on her head, trying to make sense of his about-face. “What? You just gave me a whole speech about not doing anything. Is this opposite day? I’m so confused.”
“My speech was a practice speech. The killer wants to scare us off. We’re going to let them think they have.”
“Ooh.” Dee relaxed. “I get it. I may not have gotten the acting gene, but someone in this partnership did.” She applauded, then stopped and shook a finger at Jeff. “But you didn’t have to scare me like that. Not fair.”
“I do think you should take it easy. And I have plenty of motel promotional work to do. If we lay low, it’ll send the message we’re backing off.”
Dee yawned. “I have to admit, I’m not feeling a hundred percent yet. I wouldn’t mind resting until I’m fully operational.”
“Good. We have a plan.”
“Yes. But this case has to be solved before someone else is killed. Like me.”
Jeff hopped off his stool. “Do you want me to spend the night here?”
“No, it’s okay. I doubt anyone’s going to try anything so soon after my drugging. Plus, I’ve got my guard dog with me.” She gave Nugget an affectionate pat on the head.
